The Cowardly Lion....er, Viking

Daunte Culpepper has had a tough time pretty much since he first came to the Vikings.
He spent his rookie year as a 4th string QB behind Jeff George, Randall Cunningham and Todd Bouman. He played sparingly in the pre-season, and when he looked understandably green, fans started to grumble that he was a poor pick. We never stopped hearing about Jevon Kearse and how the Vikes erred in passing him up.
Of course he proved them wrong over the next five years, putting up mostly outstanding numbers, despite having issues with turnovers.
In 2005, he had what was, in my opinion, the single greatest all-around season any QB has ever had in the league.
Yet Vikings fans, never trusting of a QB who isn't pale skinned, still refused to open their arms to Culpepper.
That fan distrust was made even more obvious this year with the way Vikings fans fell all over themselves to praise the work of Brad Johnson.
Johnson did what a backup QB should do, and yes, Culpepper could certainly learn a lot from the veteran about playing under control and protecting the football.
Yet keep this in mind: Daunte made seven starts this year, five against quality teams (Tampa, Cincy, Chicago, Carolina and Atlanta). He lost all five and played poorly in all five. In the two games Pep played against poor teams (GB, N.O.) he played great and the Vikings won.
Johnson pretty much followed the same trend, but the easy part of the schedule fell on his watch.
Johnson had much less to do with the Vikings turnaround then did a favorable schedule and an improved defense.
But the fans didn't see it that way. They filled call-in shows with pleas to dump Daunte and committ to BJ.
And Daunte heard them.
This week Daunte's camp reportedly asked for a raise, which, of course, makes no sense with Culpepper coming off his worst year and worst injury.
He knows it makes no sense, that's why he asked.
Because he wants out.
And he hopes this'll force the team's hand, because he knows he's never getting a raise.
He has given up on trying to make the Vikings his team.
For as much as the Vikings have tried to annoint Daunte as their leader, he is clearly incapable of such.
He's a baby.
Instead of manning up to his own poor choices in the love-boat incident (regardless of how guilty he actually is),he has chosen to blame the Star Tribune.
Instead of saying, 'Hey I had a bad year. My bad.', he's asked for more money.
Instead of meeting his new coach face to face(a coach who, as far as I can tell, was only hired for Daunte's benefit, because of his work with Donovan McNabb, a QB with similar skills), he took 10 minutes to call him on his cell phone.
Instead of honoring Mike Tice's request to try to spark the team by speaking to them prior to a game late in the season, he refused.
Some leader.
As I mentioned, fans in this area have never given Daunte a fair shake, and in that regard I definitely feel for him. But he's a pro. A handsomely paid one at that.
His job is not to make people love him. His job is to win. To be a leader.
And he has failed.
Having said that, he's got no leverage here. (Nor does BJ, who has 3 years left on his deal.)
If I thought the Vikings could get a 1st round pick for him, I'd favor trading Daunte tomorrow. They'd then have 2 1st rounders, one of which they could trade to San Diego for Phillip Rivers. Then let him and BJ battle it out.
But due to the injury, the sex-scandal and his recent pouting, teams looking to acquire Daunte won't dream of offering anything good for him.
So I don't know exactly where that leaves the Vikes.
My guess is Daunte will realize he's backed himself into a corner and come back with his tail between his legs.
And while I don't really support the hiring of Brad Childress, I have a pretty good feeling he's the right guy to get Daunte back to the player he was under Scott Linehan.
Let's just hope Daunte was watching those games with BJ at the helm.
See what happens when you just take the sack Daunte? Interceptions are bad.