ShareThisMinnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress was upset by Brett Favre's decision-making on Sunday night as the now-injured quarterback threw three interceptions in a 28-24 loss to Green Bay at Lambeau Field, but the Vikings coach reserved the majority of his ire for the officiating job done by referee Scott Green's crew.
Childress clearly wasn't happy when he spoke to the media in the postgame news conference, but he was seething during an earlier radio interview on KFAN.
"That's the worst officiated game I've seen," said Childress, whose team fell to 2-4 after losing four games in the entire 2009 regular season. "That referee came over and apologized to me for not calling a hold on the scramble by (Packers quarterback Aaron) Rodgers. And I'll tell you what, that's his job. Protect the quarterback and look at the left tackle. Look at the left tackle hold his tail off."
Childress' concerns will go well beyond the officiating this morning. Favre reinjured his surgically repaired left ankle in the third quarter when he was hit by linebacker Brad Jones as he threw an interception to A.J. Hawk. Favre had trouble moving after the game, and it has to be considered questionable whether he will be able to extend his NFL-record starting streak next week at New England.
The Vikings had three touchdowns taken away by reviews, including a potential 35-yarder to Percy Harvin with 57 seconds left in the game, but that wasn't the one that upset Childress. The replay showed Harvin came down with his right foot out of bounds. That drive ended with Favre falling down, getting up and throwing incomplete for Randy Moss in the end zone on fourth-and-15.
What set Childress off was Green's reversal of a 17-yard touchdown in the second quarter on what appeared to be a nice diving catch by tight end Visanthe Shiancoe. The drive stalled and the Vikings ended up getting only a field goal.
"I must not understand a catch in the end zone for them to take Shiancoe's off the board," Childress said. "That's not the way it's taught, that's not the way we're told. That goes back to the Tampa game that Tony (Dungy) coached years ago."
He was referring to the NFC Championship Game in January 2000 between the Rams and Buccaneers, when a no-catch by Bert Emanuel caused a rule change regarding how the ground can affect a reception.
"You control the ball and it doesn't make any difference if you control it with your hand or forearm. Period. That's not the way it's taught at our owner's symposium and that's wrong. That's wrong. ... They said he didn't control it, and he controlled it. The litmus is 50 drunks in a bar, those 50 drunks say that's a catch and 50 writers in this room, you may be drunk too, but it's a catch."
Said Shiancoe: "I personally believe I had possession. I talked to the referee and he told me that if it was further up in my hands it would have been a touchdown. I thought I had my hands under it, but they said it wasn't a completion."
Childress anger with the officials overshadowed his feelings about Favre's decision-making. Favre threw three interceptions in the second half after not throwing one in 72 attempts against his former team in two-plus games.
"It still goes back to taking care of the football," said Childress, who hasn't always seen eye-to-eye with Favre on how to play quarterback. "You can't throw it to them. You've got to play within the confines of our system. Sometimes it's OK to punt the football and you can't give seven points going the other way. Not in a game like this. Not with a high-powered team."
The interception the Packers' Desmond Bishop returned for a touchdown in the third quarter seemed to upset Childress the most. "I'd have to look at that one to know where we're going with the football because I believe the play was designed to go to the other side and I think Percy's standing there in big air," Childress said.
Childress considered pulling Favre but did not make it clear whether he had approached the veteran. "(I) was going to give him that next series and he took us and moved us down the field," Childress said.
Favre, who had a subpar 50.4 passer rating, did not disagree with Childress' assessment of his play after Sunday's loss and called the defeat "devastating."
As for whether he can extend his record consecutive starts streak to 292 games, Favre seemed uncertain.
"Who knows?" he said. "Really, who knows? I hope I do. The reality is, if I can play but not be effective, then it's not worth playing. I hope I use good judgment. We'll see. I'm no spring chicken anymore. I don't heal as quickly. I know the heart's in the right place though. I know I left it on the field. It's just disappointing it didn't work our way."
(Contact Judd Zulgad at jzulgad(at)startribune.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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