Mike Woods

Brad Childress is the perfect fall guy.

He never kibitzes over the avalanche of criticism he endures. He's never concerned if he gets credit or not. And he never will be confused as the life of the party.

Childress is just kind of there. If an NFL scout were to evaluate him, he’d be, as scouts love to say, “just a guy.’’

There is no doubt the coach of the Minnesota Vikings has always been what Tiger Woods has become: an easy target. He’s always been all business, a guy you’re not sure has teeth because you’ve never seen him smile. A guy who always looks like he’s in line at the local DMV.

But just a guy? Hardly.

Yet it’s kind of always been that way for Childress, at least from the time I first encountered him at the University of Wisconsin. He was the quarterbacks coach in 1993 when the Badgers, a college football wasteland before Barry Alvarez came on the scene in 1990, won the Rose Bowl. He was promoted to offensive coordinator the next year, and the Badgers won another Rose Bowl in 1998.

Despite having one of the best running games in the country, the one constant you heard were complaints that Childress didn’t throw the ball enough, and looked rather silly on those occasions he wore a cowboy hat.

Never mind that he threw it all over the field when he was offensive coordinator at his previous stop, Northern Arizona, that he was working for a run-first coach in Alvarez and simply made the necessary adjustments to make Wisconsin successful. When he left for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, nary a tear was shed in Madison.

In Philly, Childress again started out as quarterbacks coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator. In four seasons, the Eagles compiled a NFL-best 42-21 regular-season record, won four straight NFC East championships and reached Super Bowl XXXIX, where they lost to the New England Patriots.

Special feature Keys to the NFC title game Evan Silva breaks down six crucial areas for the Vikings and Saints and decides if it's a strength or weakness. NBCSports.com

In his seven years in Philadelphia, the Eagles had seven offensive players earn 14 Pro Bowl berths. Included in that group was quarterback Donovan McNabb, the 2000 NFL MVP runner-up.

But hey, that was all head coach Andy Reid. We all know that, right?

So he goes to Minnesota to take over the Vikings, who just a year earlier had become the nation’s punch line.

Remember former coach Mike Tice being fined $100,000 by the NFL for scalping Super Bowl tickets? Remember Onterrio Smith and his favorite toy, the Whizzinator? Remember the Love Boat incident, that concluded with four players being charged with misdemeanors?

Childress was asked to clean up the mess, repair the image and, lest he forget, win a bunch of games.

His first year the Vikings were 6-10. Then 8-8. Then 10-6 last season and NFC North champions, and now 13-4 this year with a spot in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game in New Orleans.

Childress and vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman have overhauled the roster since their arrival. Ten of the 22 starters have been drafted since 2006. They have added key free agents, like defensive end Jared Allen, running back Chester Taylor, guard Steve Hutchinson, receiver Bernard Berrien, tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and kicker Ryan Longwell.

Oh yeah, and that Brett Favre guy.

Childress' Favre project has been stunning
Childress was first ripped for his undying pursuit of Favre, then his perceived coddling of the future Hall of Fame quarterback, and once more following their overblown dustup on the sidelines against Carolina in battle for control of running the offense.

Under a lesser coach, that situation could have developed into the beginning of the end. But it didn’t happen. After a couple of stumbles, the Vikings regrouped and ripped the New York Giants in their regular-season finale and then demolished Dallas last week in the NFC divisional playoffs.

Childress’ work with Favre has been impressive. Taking him on was a clear risk, on a variety of fronts.

But Childress has found a way to take a 40-year-old quarterback stuck in his ways and get the most out of his strengths while limiting his weaknesses.

The results have been staggering. As a guy who did not go through an offseason program and had a penchant in recent years for late-season collapses and making stupid throws in the playoffs, Favre posted career bests this season in completion percentage (68.4 percent), yards per attempt (7.9), passer rating (107.2) and lowered the NFL’s all-time leader in picks to an interception percentage of 1.3.

Favre was just short of brilliant in the playoff win over the Cowboys, completing 15 of 24 for 234 yards, no picks, and his first four-touchdown postseason game.

And, no, it’s not all because of offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, for when he was quarterbacks coach and worked with Favre in Green Bay, Favre was never this good.

Everywhere Childress has gone, his teams have won, and if you believe it’s all coincidence then it’s a sure sign you still write letters to Santa.

Childress has engineered a most impressive turnaround in Minnesota, topped by his best year yet. Yet when the coach of the year results were announced, his name was nowhere to be found. Not a single vote.

Now he’s just two wins shy of being the real coach of the year. Two wins shy of bringing the Vikings their first Super Bowl title. Two wins shy of making history.

Yet you wonder, if he pulls this off, will anything change?

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