MINNEAPOLIS
Brad Childress might be back in the NFL quicker than he thought.
The former Vikings coach will be in Miami on Saturday to interview for the offensive coordinator job with the Dolphins.
Childress, who was the offensive coordinator of the Eagles before joining the Vikings in 2006, said he isn't certain he will coach next season or sit it out while he collects on a $3 million-per-year contract for the next two seasons from the Vikings after he was fired in November.
However, any money he earns from another job would be deducted from the money he is owed by the Vikings.
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"I really don't know what I want to do," Childress said. "I may just sit out this year and maybe two years. But I've coached for 33 straight years and if the right position comes up, I'm going to give it strong consideration. I'm a football coach."
Miami offensive coordinator Dan Henning retired and, after interviewing Stanford football coach Jim Harbaugh for the head coaching job, the Dolphins gave a two-year extension to Tony Sparano.
"I don't have any preconceived notions," Childress said of the Dolphins' opening. "If there's a good opportunity there with good people, and that's the key, I'll coach again this year. If not then I'll pass and do something next year."
Childress said it wouldn't be any problem for him to be an assistant coach after being a head coach with the Vikings.
"I don't mind that at all," he said. "To be a good leader you have to have good followers, so if there's somebody out there that I feel like I can follow, I'll do that."
About being fired, he said: "It is a crazy world. Forgot everything I knew one year ago. But you know that's kind of the nature of the business is what have you done for me lately or, really, what have you done for me right now or in the future."
Childress sang the praises of his successor, Leslie Frazier.
"I love Leslie. You know obviously I feel strongly about him," Childress said. "I wouldn't have brought him in here as a defensive coordinator if I didn't. Obviously that's been a good spot for [Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin and for Leslie both, guys that were up and coming, and I wish him all the best."
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He said he watched all of the Viking games on television after he was let go.
"I saw every one of them," he said. "I guess it was probably about a microcosm of the season. Won some and lost some and played well in some and not so well in others. Yeah, it's a fickle business. You'd like to think with getting better every year, maybe this was a back-step and you can go forward from there, but yeah, it is a crazy business."
Childress said he watched a lot of football after he left the Vikings.
"I wish I could tell you that I pushed away from it, but you know I enjoy it," he said. "I watch every game that I can, it's what I do. I mean ... I'm not all of a sudden gone fishing or started playing golf or something like that. Football is what I do, so I enjoy watching it.
"I enjoy watching the finish to the season and the first round of the playoffs, the wild cards. I watch it all."
How does he feel about the playoffs?
"Wee haven't seen obviously New England and Pittsburgh and Atlanta and the Bears play," he said. "I think New England is probably as good a football team as there is. I think the Jets will have a tough time up there. I think Atlanta and the Bears are pretty good teams.
"I just think they [the Bears] were steady. I think they've gotten a little bit better. The last time that Seattle played them Seattle beat them in Chicago. I watched that game, it might have been the weekend of our bye. You don't expect that, but they're a good, solid football team."
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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
