Aug 7th 2008 8:51AM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: Vikings, NFC NorthBrad Childress, consider yourself warned. Owner Zygi Wilf expects big things this year.
“We’re going into our fourth year [of ownership], but certainly I think everybody on our team expects great things this year,” Wilf said. “We’re certainly going to be fighting for the division, and I think we have the team and the confidence to do it. I know that we have the potential to be the best, but we’ll wait for the season to unfold to show our true colors.”You can’t blame Wilf for raising the expectations on his third-year coach. This is a team built to Childress’ specifications, and the team’s overall talent level is the best that it’s been since the Robert Smith, Randy Moss and Chris Carter Vikings of the late 1990s and 2000. Add in the acquisitions of Bernard Berrian and Jared Allen this offseason and everything seems to be set for the Vikings to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

But there obviously still are plenty of questions as well. We’ll have to see if Jared Allen will fix the team’s pass defense problems of the last couple of years, and we’ll all see if Tarvaris Jackson will earn the amazing amount of respect Childress has given him by not bringing in competition for him, ether in 2007 or this year.

Childress seemingly has been on the hot seat since the day he took the job, but it’s good to see that Wilf isn’t sitting back and willing to tolerate mediocrity. If the Vikings make the playoffs this year, everything’s good. But if not, there should be legitimate questions as to whether Childress is the right man for the job.