Jackson Had His Chances in Minnesota, and Did Not Convert

Once looked at as the possible future, maybe even to be labeled as the franchise quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, Tarvaris Jackson will get a second shot with the Seattle Seahawks.

He does have the backing from second year head coach Pete Carroll, but Jackson had that same sort of security blanket with recently fired Brad Childress while with the Vikings.

After six seasons with the Vikings, Jackson was not resigned by Minnesota as his future in Purple looked darker and darker as Childress courted, perhaps even begged Brett Favre to come to the team for two seasons.

Carroll, in defense of his new quarterback, said Jackson was “jerked around,” while at Minnesota.

At times, there was a short leash for Jackson, but he was given every opportunity to be successful for the Vikings.

He was handed the keys to an offense that had arguably the best running back in the NFL in Adrian Peterson, a solid offensive line and a defense that was one of the best against the run and could at least keep Minnesota in ball games.

People, especially Carroll, forget that Childress drafted Jackson in the second round of the 2006 draft and the Vikings even moved up to get him.

After a mediocre year for Minnesota and a struggling Brad Johnson, Jackson took over as the starter in Week 15.

He was a nice change of pace at the position, utilizing his speed to elude the rush and take off and had a much stronger arm than Johnson.

In 2007, Jackson was named the starting quarterback an aforementioned, had Peterson in the backfield, who was drafted earlier that spring, and also had veteran Chester Taylor.

Despite an 8-4 record as the starter and missing several games because of injury, Jackson could not lead the Vikings to the playoffs.

His passer rating of 70.8 was 28^th among starters and as the season progressed and pressure mounted, Jackson could not rise to the occasion as he had to deal with eight or nine men in the box as opponents stacked the line of scrimmage to stop who would later be named Offensive Rookie of the Year, Peterson.

Again, Jackson got the nod as starter in 2008 and had Gus Frerotte as the backup.

In addition, the Vikings traded for Jared Allen from the Kansas City Chiefs to help their pass rush, so Minnesota was looking like a team that could contend.

After the second week, another close loss for the Vikings and a winnable game if the quarterback play was even close to par, Jackson was benched for Frerotte and did not see playing time until Week 14 when Frerotte was injured.

Jackson did follow up with a nice performance against Arizona the following week when he had four touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Cardinals did make it to the Super Bowl that year, but lets be honest, their secondary was nothing to be scared about and Jackson did have wide open receivers to throw to.

Minnesota made it to the postseason after a 20-19 win against the New York Giants in the final week of the regular season when Ryan Longwell hit a game-winning field goal as time expired.

Despite Frerotte leading the Vikings to a 7-3 record and essentially saving the season, he would not be the starting quarterback in the playoffs against the Philadelphia Eagles.

As the pressure grew, Jackson once again did not perform as he went 15-35 for 164 yards and an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

Needless to say, Minnesota lost 26-14 and that was the last meaningful game Jackson would play in a Vikings uniform. It was reported that Frerotte said he thought he could have won the game for the Vikings if he was behind center that day.

If there was any jerking around as Carroll put it, it is fair to say that happened in the 2009 and 2010 seasons as the Favre drama came.

If there was one thing that Childress had to do in order to at least keep his job, it was to find a competent quarterback with the knowledge and skill-set to run the West Coast offense.

To say Jackson did not have a chance to succeed in Minnesota and even hint at the fact he was put in a bad situation is a bit ludicrous.

His head coach ultimately put his head coaching career on the line by drafting a Division I-AA quarterback from Alabama State in the second round, believing he can mold him into a high caliber NFL quarterback.

In his rookie season he was allowed to take over for a veteran quarterback with a Super Bowl ring.

For nearly two seasons, he had an elite running back and one of the NFL’s best defense’s, but could not produce in the big games.

Remember, this wasn’t a collegiate standout for a big-time college football program that did not get his cracks.

Jackson had an opportunity that not many do get considering what his resume was.

All in all, he did not get the job done in Minnesota and was not really jerked around as Carroll put it.

Maybe a change is good for Jackson or maybe Carroll and the Seahawks will see what we saw in Minnesota for six tough seasons.