Chilly we hardly knew ye

So, will Brett Favre give Chilly a ride to the airport?

Okay, I'll admit I stole that line from a friend of mine, but it kinda sums things up. As you've probably heard, the Vikings gassed Brad Childress this morning and have named Leslie Frazier as the interim coach. A few thoughts:

• I wrote about Favre this morning and really don't have a lot to add about his situation, except to say that he's been pretty rough on those who would coach him in recent years. His antics probably got Eric Mangini fired in New York and now Brad Childress lost his job.
• I've spoken with any number of Vikings fans about Childress and while their has been almost universal disgust with his tenure, I'm not convinced that his coaching has been that bad, really. He'd done a very good job of identifying good players and deploying them in positions where they could succeed. If you look at the Vikings roster now and compare it to 2005, when Mike Tice was ashcanned, you will notice that nearly the entire roster has turned over. The results got steadily better for the first four years of the Childress regime, but at the end things went south. While I think you can put a lot of that on Childress and a fair amount on Favre, I think there's plenty of blame to go around.
• When we get a little distance from things, I suspect that the failed Randy Moss experiment will turn out to be crucial, but not necessarily for the reasons we have thought. Moss has his flaws, but there's evidence that he's actually a pretty shrewd fellow -- our friend Night Writer has said as much in the past. I think you could argue that Moss sized up the situation here and forced his way out precisely because he saw the dysfunction. He didn't want to be part of it and knew exactly how to extricate himself.
• Leslie Frazier gets the job on an interim basis and a thankless job it is. He's been loyal to Childress, which makes me wonder how easy it will be for him to distance himself from what's been happening this season. The word on Frazier is that he's exceptionally bright and patient, which are admirable traits. My guess is that this team, as it is currently, needs someone who's not afraid to kick some butts. Perhaps Frazier can do that but one has to wonder.
• As a Packer fan, what's been most interesting is that we've now seen teams fire their coaches in consecutive games after getting whipped by the boys in Green. It's a coincidence, but I think one thing has been clear -- the reason the Packers are still hanging in there while their opponents fade away is that the Packers do a good job of policing egos. Unlike the Vikings or the Cowboys, the Packers show up and do their work every week without a lot of talking. That's a testament to the approach that permeates the team from top to bottom. Mike McCarthy is a thoroughly dull dude but he's obviously able to keep the drama in check. It seems to be a rare skill set.