SEATTLE – Even the conservative-speaking head coach of the Minnesota Vikings was carefully choosing his words last week.
“That’s one that I’d have to ponder,” Brad Childress said during his conference call when asked about the relationship between his Vikings and today’s opponent, the Seattle Seahawks. “Do you guys want to get to me on Sunday after the game on that one?
“The relationship between the two franchises, I’m not sure I’m prepared to answer that.”
So much for trash talk.
But suffice to say, the two teams that will square off at Qwest Field today have anything but love for each other.
Some crafty media types are billing this as the “Poison Pill” Bowl, an obvious reference to the offseason contract duel that saw guard Steve Hutchinson – from Seattle to Minnesota – and wide receiver Nate Burleson – from Minnesota to Seattle – trade places. The publicity surrounding those moves helped build some behind-the-scenes animosity, but it doesn’t appear to have spilled over into the locker rooms.
“Maybe there are a couple front office guys that do,” Vikings center Matt Birk said when asked whether anyone is still harboring ill feelings from the offseason roster moves. “Things happen, and as players, there is so much that is out of our control.”
Not even one of the principal players at the center of the controversy believes that there are any bitter feelings remaining.
“At the end of the day, it’s just another game. And I think (the Vikings) feel the same way,” said Burleson, who signed a seven-year, $49 million contract that was similar to Hutchinson’s. “It’s been sensationalized in the media, but when we get out there it will be just another game for both of us. We’re definitely going to have to bring our A-game, and I’m looking forward to it.”
People in both front offices have probably been looking forward to this game for a long time.
The Vikings took the first shot by signing Hutchinson to an unmatchable contract offer that included unprecedented provisions. The entire sum of the seven-year, $49 million offer would have been guaranteed if Hutchinson was the highest-paid lineman on his given team, which forced the Seahawks’ hand in that they already had Walter Jones signed to a $52 million deal.
Because Hutchinson was a transition player, the Seahawks could have matched any offer – or so they thought. The provisions led Seattle to let its Pro Bowl lineman to move on.
“The whole thing surprised a lot of people – throughout the NFL, not just in our building,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said last week.
Seattle responded two weeks later with a similar offer to Burleson, who was a restricted free agent. His contract included language that would guarantee $49 million if he were to play a certain amount of games in the state of Minnesota.
Burleson’s offer will probably be void before the fifth season, at which time the contract jumps from $3.25 million to $10.5 million in base salary.
But those numbers, and all the talk of poison pills, are being left in the past. While Hutchinson’s contract garnered plenty of headlines during the free-agent signing period, the circumstances are all but forgotten by most of the players involved in today’s game.
“That’s the kind of stuff that people like just so they can write stories about it,” Seahawks fullback Mack Strong said. “It doesn’t directly affect me, so I just go out and play ball.”
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