Have the Vikings Learned from Lovie's Blunder?

Profootballtalk.com reports that Vikings coach Brad Childress is having second thoughts about Tarvaris Jackson's role as the team's starting QB:

Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress won't commit to quarterback Tarvaris Jackson as the team's starter for 2008.

Specifically, Childress wants to review Jackson's "body of work" before deciding what to do. With Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb expected to be available via trade, Childress might be tempted to try to grab the guy from the coach's former team. Though Jackson might eventually develop into a great quarterback, there are no five-year plans in the modern NFL. The challenge is to win today.

Still, Childress can't bad mouth the second-year player for whom the Vikings arguably reached in round two of the 2006 draft.

"His record as a starter speaks for itself," Childress said on Monday. "I'd like [him] to do a little bit better job with that ball security, and that ends up being the premium. By and large, he's been decent [in] decision-making. I always want to see us make the routine plays routinely. [Against the Redskins,] I thought we left a couple throws on the field. . . . But then, I think he has made some very, very good throws.

"But I'd just like to do a better job of securing the football. And some of that is on him and some of that is on other people."

The Vikings would have the cap room to pay McNabb; the challenge would be whether they'd be willing to give the Eagles what they'd want via trade. Reports recently circulated that an unnamed team learned before the 2007 trade deadline that Philly wanted a whopping three first-round picks for the No. 2 overall pick in the 1999 draft.

Though that very well might have been a deliberate effort by Philly to get more than the second-round pick that the market might otherwise dictate, it's a given that the Eagles would want to get as much as they could, if for no reason other than to justify parting ways with McNabb.

And whether it's McNabb or someone else, there's a growing sense of unease regarding the ability of Jackson to take advantage of the crowd of defenders obsessed with stopping running back Adrian Peterson. Surely, there are quarterbacks out there who would be able to ring up 30-plus points per game with only two or three defensive backs to worry about.

The reason I've been slightly higher on Tarvaris Jackson in the past is because of his running ability. If you can run, you don't have to be even an average NFL QB to gain fantasy value.

The reason I've soured on him over the past couple of weeks is because it should be glaringly obvious to Brad Childress that he has a window to contend for the NFC title over the next season or two due to his NFL best rushing offense and run-stopping defense. An enlightened coach would realize he can't afford to be wasting contending opportunities on a raw, mistake-prone QB while veterans like Donovan McNabb and Chad Pennington may be available.

The other option, of course, is to follow the Lovie Smith model: how to blow your window of opportunity by sticking with a bottom of the barrel QB who will continue hold the rest of your team hostage.

According to John Madden, Tarvaris would have plenty of growing pains into next season if were to continue as the Vikes' starting QB:

"Brad Childress told me that quarterback Tarvaris Jackson is a work in progress, and I'm sure he'll be a work in progress next year," said Madden who led the Raiders over the Vikings in Super Bowl XI. "You don't develop these quarterbacks overnight."

"The Redskins came in with a plan challenging the Vikings to pass," Madden said, referring to the use of eight defensive players in the box to stop the run. And it worked -- Adrian Peterson was held to 27 yards on nine carries.

If the Vikings ever want to see less than an eight-man front in 2008, they will explore all avenues in seeking a more competent starting quarterback.