Posted: December 21, 2010, 12:45 a.m. CT
Former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Steve Young had some strong comments about the Vikings organization on ESPN's postgame show following the Vikings' 40-14 loss to the Bears on Monday Night Football.
Looking back at the last two seasons he called "the Brett Favre experiment," Young said, "This team is Super Bowl-caliber ready. But what did they get out of those two years? They had a nice run last year, but I think the collapse of the Metrodome is a nice metaphor for where this team is heading right now.
"They've gutted their coach. They're probably going to have to vacate the quarterback spot. The team is capable of going to the Super Bowl, but I just worry ... where's the bottom for this team? We know where the top is -- with the renewal for Childress and Brett was going to come back, it all looked like it was hunky-dory at the end of last year, but I just wonder ... this team is headed south and I just don't know where the bottom is."
Young was especially critical of the Vikings' midseason coaching change.
"Firing Brad Childress just destabilized everything even more," Young said. "If Brad Childress was here tonight I'd feel so much better. I don't know if he's the answer or not, but for the long-term continuity of this organization, it just seems like more upheaval and I don't think any organization wants to be in that spot.
"But I think what's sad about it is that they are so many teams that wish that they had this much talent, and they don't. This team has that much talent, and it might be wasted, and I don't want to see that."
After cohost Suzy Kolber mentioned the players' support for interim head coach Leslie Frazier, Young refused to endorse Frazier as the Vikings' next head coach.
"It's a pretty dynamic locker room," he said. "I think when Brett came in the players took control, with Brett being the leader of that group, and I think Brad gave (him) control. And I think in a lot of ways this locker room is a mature, big-time locker room, and you're going to need a mature, big-time presence to go wrangle (it).
"I think that Leslie obviously is a great coach but we want to see somebody who is going to come in ..."
Before finishing his thought, Young changed his focus to the stadium mess in Minnesota.
"And also I worry about the stadium situation," he said. "They have a one-year lease. Where will the Vikings play long-term if they can't solve that? That's another part of the destabilization of this franchise. ... Again, I hate to see such a wasted, wasted roster, that you don't see very often in the NFL. I mean, this is a loaded team and it's sad. Like Dallas it could be ready to go to the Super Bowl."
