He should. He's lost a team before. So have his predecessors and peers.
At the end of his rookie season as an NFL head coach in 2006, Childress released receiver Marcus Robinson on Christmas Eve, shortly after Robinson questioned Childress' offensive scheme. Childress, acting out of anger, made himself look small and vindictive and lost what little support he had in the locker room at that time.
In their next game, the Vikings lost to a bad Rams team that came into the game at 7-8 by a score of 41-21. The Vikings had not allowed more than 31 points in any other game that season.
It was obvious Childress had lost that team. This is not a rare occurrence in the NFL, where coaches ask their players to deliver and absorb brutal hits that could shorten careers already filled with uncertainty.
More than in any other mainstream sport, football players have to believe in their coach and their cause to play their best.
As the football philosopher Brett Favre put it this week, "Ultimately, regardless of scheme, philosophy ... the bottom line is you are playing for yourself first. If you don't play well, you may be out of the league before too long. Second, you are playing for your team.''
This week, Childress released another problematic receiver who had just criticized him. This time, the receiver was a future Hall of Famer who cost the Vikings a third-round draft pick and $1.5 million in salary for an unproductive month.
Randy Moss was a like a stink bomb in the Vikings locker room. You can remove the device; the odor remains.
Childress was right to release Moss, even if that move pointed out the mistake the Vikings had made in acquiring him, but the smell of divisiveness lingers.
Moss won over some of his teammates, including Percy Harvin, perhaps the Vikings' most pivotal offensive player.
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