Kick Ass Offense

That's a generous view by Urlacher, who followed his 2005 Defensive Player of the Year performance with a similarly outstanding year. In fact, it may have been subtly better.

"What I saw with Urlacher was him playing better and better after they lost a couple of key guys around him," Minnesota coach Brad Childress said. "They lost [defensive tackle] Tommie Harris and they lost [strong safety] Mike Brown. When you do that, most players are going to struggle, even great ones. Urlacher kept going and he kept their defense going."

A federal judge ruled today that the widow of former Minnesota Vikings Korey Stringer’s may proceed with her negligence lawsuit against the NFL and equipment maker Riddell Inc. over his heatstroke death.

Kelci Stringer sued the league and Riddell following the death of Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman Korey Stringer’s in 2001. Kelci Stringer claimed that the NFL hadn’t done enough to insure that equipment used by players protected them from injuries or deaths caused by heat-related illnesses.

Korey Stringer, a 335-pound lineman for the Minnesota Vikings, died from heatstroke after he practiced in the sweltering heat and humidity, which pushed his body temperature to 108.8 degrees. He was 27 years old at the time of his death. A Minnesota Court ruled earlier that a lawsuit against the Minnesota Vikings could not go forward since private causes of action were pre-empted by Minnesota Workers Compensation laws.

It has been 10 days since Mike Tomlin was named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings have yet to name a new defensive coordinator. This does not bode well for the two in-house candidates: Linebackers Coach Fred Pagac and Defensive Line Coach Karl Dunbar. They clearly are not the first choice of Vikings Coach Brad Childress.

The delay likely means that former Atlanta and Green Bay coordinator Ed Donatell, who was not retained on the staff of new Falcons coach Bobby Petrino, is also not at the top of the list. Similarly, Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove would likely have been named new DC by now if he was under consideration although their is some speculation that Cosgrove would want to wait until after national collegiate signing day before leaving to avoid negatively impacting Cornhusker recruiting.

The delay strongly suggests that the Vikings are waiting to interview an assistant from this year’s Super Bowl teams, Chicago and Indianapolis. Both teams play a version of the Tampa-2 defense deployed by the Vikings last season. Bears Linebackers Coach Bob Babich stated yesterday that he has no interest in becoming the Vikings’ defensive coordinator. “I could care less about the Minnesota Vikings job.”

Other possible candidates include Bears defensive backs coach Steven Wilks and
Colts defensive backs coach Alan Williams.

Whoever it is they end up choosing Vikings fans hope the delay is part of a well thought out plan and not a continuation of the bungling which has characterized the Childress era so far with the Minnesota Vikings.

Childress is not scheduled to be in Miami this week, but the Vikings’ Zygi and Mark Wilf are expected later in the week, along with the team’s vice presidents.

Source: Kevin Seifert Star Tribune

In the nine days since the Vikings began searching for a new defensive coordinator, no confirmed candidate has emerged. A few rumors have circulated and a couple of guesses have found their way into print.

The truth? Few people in the NFL know what the Vikings have done, are doing or will do to replace Mike Tomlin, who accepted Pittsburgh’s head coach position Jan. 21. The dearth of information is partially because of the continuing lockdown at Winter Park — where no decision-maker has spoken publicly since Jan. 5 — but it also suggests three possible scenarios making the rounds among league officials.

The verbal beefs between Olin Kreutz and Pat Williams are well documented.

But the Chicago Bears’ Pro Bowl center acknowledged that the Vikings defensive tackle’s selection to the Pro Bowl was long overdue.

“Pat is the best run stuffer in the league, by far, of all the guys I’ve played against,” Kreutz said Sunday night as the Bears settled into their local hotel. “Even though we don’t get along or whatever, wherever he goes, it’s the No. 1 run defense, and that’s because of him.”

Source: Pioneer Press

The Vikings spent part of last off season discussing a possible trade for Atlanta backup quarterback Matt Schaub. Schaub is a restricted free agent this off season. Assuming Atlanta offers Schaub the highest possible tender ($2,350,000), which is likely given the controversy surrounding starter Michael Vick, the Vikings would have to compensate the Falcons with a 1st and a 3rd round pick.

Schaub’s experience in the West Coast offense, both in Atlanta and at the University of Virginia, no doubt intrigues Childress. Nevertheless, that’s a steep price for a quarterback who is unproven as a starter.

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Florida State Running Back Lorenzo Booker apparently wowed Minnesota Vikings Coach Brad Childress with his knowledge of X’s and O’s.

Booker has had interviews with the majority of NFL teams, but he said, interviews with the Vikings and Rams went the best.

“When you’re interviewing with these guys, they just want to get a feel of who you are,” said Booker. “When they ask you about football, they want to know how aware you are.”

When a coach with the Rams asked him about his favorite play at Florida State, Booker grabbed a nearby whiteboard and began diagramming aspects of the play and how it related to the entire offense.

“It just escalated from there,” said Booker. “You would have thought that I was the coach and he was a recruit.”

Everyone in the room, including Vikings coach Brad Childress, stopped and walked over to see what was happening.

“Everybody was kind of speechless when I got done,” said Booker. “Most guys aren’t going to be able to tell you what everyone on the field is doing.”

Source: Ventura County Star

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Vikings nose tackle Pat Williams has been added to the NFC Pro Bowl team as the replacement for injured Chicago Bear Tommie Harris.

Assuming Brad Childress does not improve in his second year Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf will have some good coaching options. Next offseason, teams in search of head coaches could be choosing from a field that includes former Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher, Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher, Chicago’s Lovie Smith, San Diego’s Marty Schottenheimer, maybe Bill Parcells and possibly even New England’s Bill Belichick.

Cowher is free to sign with any team after next season, one year after Pittsburgh did not offer him fair market value.

Fisher, according to a source, is not expected to get a contract extension with Tennessee, which would make him a free agent after next season.

Smith and the Bears have been talking, but nothing has materialized and there’s no reason for Chicago’s coach to sell himself short when he has a Super Bowl on his resume.

Schottenheimer and the Chargers are a divorce waiting to happen after San Diego offered its coach a $4.5 million contract that included a $1 million buyout.

Parcells is apt to return to coaching at any time, as his history indicates.

And maybe, most interesting, multiple sources around the league believe that Belichick’s contract, which does have three years remaining on it, is filled with mutual options that could allow him or the team to nullify the deal as early as next year.

Source: NFL.com