Brad Childress Not Respected by Vikings, Says Anonymous Player

Wednesday's press conference with Brett Favre and Brad Childress revealed little, outside of the fact that Brett's not here for himself (allegedly), and Chilly doesn't know if Brett will play Sunday in San Francisco.

(I bet he does, even if only for a series.)

Favre talked over and over and over and over and over again about how highly he regards the players on this roster, and while he's thought to be a huge supporter of Childress, there were no words that would lead you to that conclusion.

(By the way, don't think for a second that I didn't notice his gushing over the Vikings' roster, as if he had played with a bunch of jerks in Green Bay and New York. Frank Winters and Mark Chmura are probably kicking themselves right now.

Or not.)

Anyway, if Jason Cole of Yahoo! is to be believed, the fact Favre didn't talk much at all about Childress in his rambling press conference was not unintentional.

In short, even as Minnesota’s best hope to win a Super Bowl this season was rejoining the team, Childress was losing more ground with his team in the battle for respect. One of the biggest issues playing out behind the scenes in Minnesota is that many players, particularly on offense, have no respect for Childress. Among those players is Favre, who officially returned to the team Wednesday.

According to multiple team sources, Favre’s disdain for Childress is deep.

“Brett thinks Childress has no clue about offense,” a Vikings player said.

Childress’ presence, not Favre’s ankle injury, was one of the biggest reasons Favre was hesitating about playing again, sources said.

In early July, Favre had indicated to one player that he was likely to play. However, after Childress visited Favre on July 19, Favre’s desire to return declined.

“Brett just doesn’t trust him,” a player said.

Ouch.

Apparently, Childress didn't do himself any favors Tuesday. As Favre flew back with the three amigos (Hutchinson, Allen, Longwell), Childress dispatched two assistant coaches to lie to the media about the players' whereabouts.

“Chilly can’t even tell the truth about that,” the player said. “I mean, how ridiculous is that? What’s the big deal that he has to lie? Worse, he has to tell other guys to lie for him?”

Certainly not the smartest thing a coach has ever done, but it's not like we believe coaches are always 100 percent truthful anyway.

No one expects players to attach their names to this type of criticism, but why should we believe this?

After all, the respected NFL media gave us that schism garbage last year, and surely a team divided by a huge schism doesn't go 12-4, blow out people left and right, and sing "Pants On The Ground" after a huge home playoff win.

This stuff might be true, because it was a bit peculiar that Favre didn't mention Childress much, if at all, especially given how much he talked about "Chilly" last year when he signed.

That said, this story doesn't pass the smell test when it isn't something that we've heard about before.

That Childress isn't a brilliant mind doesn't surprise anyone. But to intimate that he and Favre are totally not getting along is a bit of a stretch when all you have are an anonymous source or two.