EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress made it clear Monday that after two shaky outings by Tarvaris Jackson, the team is considering its options at quarterback. Childress did not rule out making a change for Sunday's game against Carolina.

"I'm always looking at what's giving us the best opportunity to win," he said. "If it's Tarvaris, it's Tarvaris. If it's Gus Frerotte, it's Gus Frerotte. J.D. Booty, it's J.D. Booty. I know I was asked a question yesterday, is that the guy who who's going to be the quarterback at the end of the week? That's something that is ongoing. You don't crown a guy king and then the king doesn't have any clothes on and you say, 'Hey, he's still the king.'

"You just need to make sure you're doing the right thing there. We're chewing on a bunch of things right now and making sure he's the best guy for us to go forward."

Childress has been criticized for tying himself to Jackson, but the fact he is contemplating a switch to Frerotte can't be considered a complete surprise. The Vikings spent big money in the offseason to improve their roster and yet are 0-2 for the first time in Childress' three seasons as coach.

In the aftermath of Sunday's18-15 loss to Indianapolis, Childress said Jackson would start against the Panthers. But a day later that didn't appear to be a given.

"I just think that's probably more subjective than anything else," he said when asked what would need to happen for a switch to occur. "I want to get together with my coaches and sit down and just look through all of the situations we've been through. We have a staff meeting to talk about how everyone plays. That's something that will fall back to me before we get going on Wednesday."

Frerotte, a 15-year veteran who was signed as a free agent during the offseason, played for the Vikings in 2003 and 2004 and spent the past two seasons as a backup with the St. Louis Rams. The 37-year-old was signed in large part to mentor Jackson but still has a very strong arm.

Jackson received the support of his teammates in the locker room Monday — he was not available to comment — but after an offseason of talk about his improvement, the second-year starter has had more downs than ups so far.

In two starts, Jackson has completed 30 of 59 passes for 308 yards with an interception and a touchdown. His 50.8 completion percentage ranked 28th out of 32 NFL quarterbacks entering Monday's game and his 64.8 passer rating placed him 26th.

The most important statistic is that the Vikings have reached the end zone only twice in two games and failed to get a touchdown Sunday. Instead, they settled for five Ryan Longwell field goals.

Jackson, who finished 14 of 24 for 130 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, was not the only one at fault for the lack of production.

Tight end Visanthe Shiancoe dropped what would have been a 9-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, and the decision to try to grind clock in an attempt to keep the Colts offense off the field resulted in some conservative play calling. (Nineteen of Jackson's 24 passes were termed short on the official play-by-play.)

"There were a lot of mistakes made all the way around the field," receiver Bobby Wade said. "I thought Tarvaris played pretty well. I think there are some things the receivers can do to help him out a lot more."

It's clear Childress believes Jackson has made some strides but what isn't certain is if that will be enough to save his job.

"I don't think there's any question that he's showed progress," Childress said. "Has it manifested itself in terms of wins? No. Has he been able to throw more accurately? He makes some throws where you say, that's an unbelievable throw that he just stuck in there."