Well, well, well – it looks as though there’s a little lover’s spat going on here [...]]]> (Please note: I was originally planning on writing my Christmas list for the Green Bay Packers as my usual lighthearted Tuesday post. But then Sunday night happened in Charlotte, North Carolina. And, well, that’s just too good to pass up.)

Well, well, well – it looks as though there’s a little lover’s spat going on here in Minneapolis, doesn’t there?

Seems Minnesota Vikings’ head coach Brad Childress and Judas aren’t getting along.

(No, you know what? Scratch that. It’s the holidays. I’m in a giving mood. For just this once, I’m going to refer to him as – gasp! – Brett Favre.)

Childress and Favre got into a verbal sparring match on the sidelines during Minnesota’s blowout loss to Carolina on Sunday night. Apparently, Childress wanted to bench Favre – who had been taking a pounding at the hands of the Panthers’ defense – even though the Vikings held just a 7-6 lead at that point. Favre, as per usual, was having none of that. He got his way, stayed in the game and continued to take a beating. The result? The second loss in three games for the previously 10-1 Vikings.

An argument between a coach and player – even one as massive as Favre – doesn’t make for much of a story. This is the NFL; things get heated.

Now, though, we’re finding out that Childress unleashed a “profanity-laced tirade” at Favre in private well after the game Sunday night and that Childress actually tried to bench Favre for changing a play call in the first game against our beloved Green Bay Packers on Oct. 5.

Now, we would seem to have a story…until you consider that what’s happening between the two was inevitable. Both men have massive egos and both have won their share of public battles in the past.

Childress first came to public knowledge when he, as offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, got into a heated argument with Terrell Owens after a practice in 2005. Philly head coach Andy Reid stood by Childress. The team de-activated Owens for the rest of the season, essentially ending his time in Philly.

Then, as one of his first acts as head coach in Minnesota, Childress got into a public war of words with then-star quarterback Daunte Culpepper over a multitude of factors. Childress again was victorious – Vikings’ ownership took his side – and Culpepper was pretty much done in purple.

We all know Favre’s history. In short, the man slayed everyone who dared stand in his path ever since Mike Holmgren bolted for Seattle. Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy and Mark Murphy were the first to stand up to him in quite some time. Well, we all saw how Favre reacted there, didn’t we?

(But his behavior was, and still is, okay to some “Packers fans” because Favre plays the game like a little kid and he seems like someone they’d know.)

In other words, it was only a matter of time before the two turned on each other in some sort of weird, “Who has the biggest ego?” contest. The team was winning week-in and week-out and there was only going to be so much credit to go around.

In Childress’ mind, he likely can’t stand that Favre got ALL the praise for the Vikings’ great start. After all, Minnesota won a division title last season without Favre. Plus, if you look at the team’s progression with him as head coach, winning more than 10 games this year was a possibility, anyways (the Vikings have gone from six wins to eight wins to 10 wins in his three previous seasons heading into 2009).

And, hey, didn’t Childress just get a long-term contract extension from the team? Why would the team do that if the wins were all on Favre?

In Favre’s redneck noggin, it’s the same old song and dance. He makes this offense go. He allows them to score points in a way Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels could never dream of. He puts the defense in a spot to pin its ears back and rush the passer. It’s not about anyone else. It’s all about him. Hell, he probably believes that roughly half of Childress’ new money should go directly into his bank account.

Neither man is right, really. Both have acted like idiots, again and again. But if you’re asking the question of who is most to blame for things ending up this way, you have to point the finger directly at Childress. He’s the one who has repeatedly let Favre get away with pretty much whatever he wanted.

He set deadlines for a decision last summer. Repeatedly. Favre laughed those off. Repeatedly.

Favre said he was done. No comeback in purple. Childress said the door was closed. The team had moved on.

Favre changed his mind. He wanted in. Not only did Childress accept him with open arms – essentially throwing Jackson and Rosenfels under the bus in the most public of ways – he picked Favre up at the airport!

Before Favre had even taken a practice snap, he KNEW this organization was wrapped around his finger. And when Favre started winning games at an insane pace – causing every Vikings fan that had spent the previous 15 or so years cursing his name to run out and buy a purple No. 4 jersey – Childress really had no shot to reign him in.

That was never going to change, good times or bad. If Childress thought losing two of three would, all of a sudden, allow him the opportunity to get tough on a now struggling Favre, he was a fool. Favre is way sharper than he ever gets credit for, publicly. And in his mind, once he owns you, you’re there forever.

(Can’t you just see Childress screaming profanities at Favre as he sits there with a blank look on his face, Childress’ voice sounding similar to that of the teacher on “Charlie Brown” in Favre’s head?)

It’s not just Childress, either. The Minnesota Vikings are entirely Brett Favre’s team now. They’ll follow his lead – straight to hell or otherwise.

-Chris Lempesis

You could point to any number of reasons for why the Green Bay Packers suffered a 30-23 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.

Poor offensive line play, a quaterback who [...]]]> (Before we begin: I wanted to get this up immediately after the game, but I decided to sleep on my thoughts before I wrote anything.)

You could point to any number of reasons for why the Green Bay Packers suffered a 30-23 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.

Poor offensive line play, a quaterback who hangs on to the damn ball too long, a pathetic pass rush and stupid penalties would all suffice.

But the real reason the Packers dipped to 2-2 – and are essentially now three games out of first place in the NFC North – is perhaps the most eye-opening as it is something I never thought I’d be saying:

Green Bay is coached by Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy made countless breathtakingly awful decisions throughout the contest. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t be so bad as every one is allowed a rotten day every now and then.

But the same awful decisions made by McCarthy on Monday speak to a pattern of bad decisions made by the coach throughout his three and one-quarter seasons in Green Bay. And after the job he did at the Metrodome against Judas, you have to ask yourself if McCarthy is really the man to lead this team forward.

The bad decisions, in no particular order, from Monday night were:

• Leaving a player (Daryn Colledge) who is playing out of position on an island against the best defensive end in the NFL (Jared Allen)

It was obvious, from the first drive, that McCarthy and the coaching staff were content on matching Colledge up one-on-one with Allen. It was also obvious, from the first drive, that Colledge just couldn’t handle it. Allen was too strong, too quick and too aggressive for the Packers’ usual left guard.

Still, you figured McCarthy would adjust the blocking scheme at halftime and give Colledge some help as he must have been able to see that his left tackle just wasn’t up to the task. Wrong. He continued to leave Colledge out there alone. And even when Colledge left the game with an injury and was replaced by rookie T.J. Lang, McCarthy still had Lang match-up with Allen by himself.

The result of this stupidity? Four and a half sacks, a forced fumble and a safety from Allen.

Once again, McCarthy shows he has no idea how to help out his o-lineman. He didn’t know how to help Allen Barbre in the Bears game; he didn’t know how to help out Chad Clifton/Colledge in the Bengals game; and going back to last season, he didn’t know how to help Clifton against Allen in the second Vikings game.

• Failing to continue to attack the Vikings defense with screens, draws and, most importantly, three-step drops from Aaron Rodgers

Early on in the game, the Packers did a nice job (for the first time in ages) running screen plays. Throughout the game, the draw plays to Ryan Grant worked as Grant looked the best he has all season.

The Packers should have continued to make those plays big parts of their offensive attack. But they really didn’t. And spare me the, “You can’t keep running it because then you become predictable” excuse. That doesn’t wash. In the NFL, when something works, you run the hell out of it until the opponent figures it out.

If those were bad, the passing plays designed for Rodgers were even worse. I’ll be the first to say that Rodgers holds on to the damn ball far too long and if he doesn’t correct that quick, he’ll never be more than an average NFL quarterback.

But if you’re the head coach, and you know this, you have to design and call plays that don’t give your QB a chance to hang on to the ball too long (i.e., quick passes on three-step drops). What makes that even more frustrating is that whenever McCarthy called those quick pass plays Monday night, guess what? They worked.

But almost as quickly, there McCarthy was, calling for yet another seven-step drop from Rodgers, putting his weak offensive line and quarterback who tends to hang on to the ball too long against one of the best d-lines in the game. The result? A mind-numbing eight sacks by Minnesota as a team.

Once again, in a big game his team needed to win, there was McCarthy stubbornly running the things that didn’t work in favor of the things that did. Just like the NFC Championship Game.

• Not pulling Al Harris out of the game, for at least a series or two, to get his head together

I’ll give Judas credit for this much: He remembered that, in a big game on national television, you throw right at Harris because Harris gets way too keyed up for big games and just isn’t very good in those situations.

It was clear from the first quarter-on that Harris just wasn’t mentally in the game. Whether it was Bernard Berrian or Sidney Rice, two very average receivers, it didn’t matter as they were going to torch Harris if he was on them.

Give Harris some help? Maybe pull him out of the game for a series or two to get his head straight?

Nah, why bother, right Mike?

Instead, you just choose to leave him out there to die. Just like you did against Terrell Owens on a Thursday night in Dallas and just like you did against Plaxico Burress in the NFC Championship Game.

• The penalties – my God the penalties

The Packers committed seven penalties for 57 yards on Monday night. Those penalties resulted in killed drives, poor starting field position and nullified big plays (Charles Woodson’s interception of Judas in the end zone, for example).

This is the most glaring failure of his time in Green Bay. He has never been able to get this team to play with any discipline at all. They just keep drawing flags week-in and week-out.

Being an aggressive team is fine, but as I’ve said before on this site, you can be aggressive without drawing penalties. Look at Pittsburgh. Look at Baltimore. Look at the New York Giants. It can be done.

But I’m starting to realize it can’t be done by McCarthy. For whatever reason, it just isn’t going to happen.

And that’s the big question you have to ask yourself as this team heads into the second-most important bye week of McCarthy’s tenure:

Is McCarthy the man to lead this team to a Super Bowl? Do you ever see that happening?

I did as recently as this summer, but what he’s shown over the first four games of this season has made me re-examine my stance. I’m not saying he should be fired or anything crazy. I’m just simply asking if he’s going to be the guy to lead the Pack to greatness. Because if he can’t clean up the same mistakes he’s making over-and-over, this team isn’t going anywhere ever.

The most important bye week of his time in Green Bay came in his first season. The Packers were 1-4 and coming off a tough loss to the St. Louis Rams. Things looked pretty bleak, yet McCarthy got the team to bounce back and win three of its next four games en route to an 8-8 finish.

We have to hope he can do the same thing this season. Otherwise, he might not be around when the next bye week comes up.

-Chris Lempesis