Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress wishes he never took up the Patriots’ offer for Randy Moss.
On Wednesday, just two days after cutting Moss, Childress addressed the media to give his stance on the situation. By no means did he spill the beans on the whole scenario, but he did address the mistake of picking up Moss.
“It was a poor decision,” Childress told the media. “I’ve got to stand up and I have to make it right. When it’s not right, you need to make it right.”
Moss turned out to be nothing but trouble for the Vikes. He ignored the press, criticized the team’s local caterer and sealed his fate with an awkward statement to the media after the Pats’ game, calling out the Vikings coaches for not listening to his advice. It was clear that Moss left very little room for Childress to focus on when accessing the wide receiver’s attributes (a whopping 13 passes for 174 yards in four games).
Vikings quarterback Brett Favre explained that he was shocked with Moss’ verbal attack on the locker-room spread.
“I wouldn’t do it,” Favre said. “I was sitting in my locker eating the food. I thought it was pretty good.”
It is not like Childress and the Vikings didn’t know that Moss was a handful. He has been known to cause problems, but his pure skill was likely too much for Childress and Co. to pass up.
“I wished and hoped that it would have worked out as well,” Childress said. “But it was a programmatic non-fit, and it didn’t work out. When things don’t work out, you need to move quickly to take steps.”
Now that the Vikings are 2-5 and have lost a third-round draft pick for next year’s draft, Childress’ job might be in jeopardy. But he didn’t offer any real substantial comment on the matter.
“I’d say that’s up to everybody else to look at,” Childress said. “I know that basically it’s usually tied to how many wins you have and how many losses you have.”
