Hello boys and girls, it's been a tough week for me and when this game is over it'll be time to get back to work. Grad school is no joke!
I missed the first quarter or so of the game, but congrats to Cordarrelle Patterson for his 105 yard kickoff return for a TD.
I started watching just when Jared Allen strip-sacked Jay Cutler, and Brian Robison returned it 61 yards to tie the game at 14-14. Then Devin Hester with his 70ish yard return, and then Everson Griffin tips the ball and Kevin Williams intercepts in the end zone.
Peterson's run keeps the drive alive, and then Ponder makes the most boneheaded throw of the weekend, and Chicago returns the interception for a touchdown when there was an OPEN RECEIVER FIVE YARDS AWAY ON THE 50 YARD LINE. I'm no fan of calling for the quarterback's head, but this is pissing me off. We're squandering the best years of Adrian Peterson's career here, and we can't keep apologizing and waiting for Ponder to sack up. Something HAS to give. I've been a loyal fan since the first Vikings' game I saw in September 1994, and I will continue to be, but I am going to speak up when crap of this magnitude is going down.
To be fair, Simpson did quit on that play. But still. A LOT of that is on Ponder, especially when there was a wide open guy with nothing but 50 yards of grass between him and the endzone five yards away. STOP STARING DOWN YOUR RECEIVERS PONDER, YOU'RE NOT A ROOKIE ANYMORE.
And Adrian Peterson FINALLY has a big run!! Apparently he just hit 9,000 yards in his 91st game, the 3rd fastest guy to reach that mark.
OMG my feed dies the second Rudolph rips a ball away from Major Wright (a Gator alum) and scores a TD!!! WTF at least I can hear even if I can't see...oh life...you are astoundingly irritating sometimes.
So my feed is still gone, but the Vikings make a STUPID bloody penalty and I can't believe we gave them life when their drive stalled. And they take us to halftime with a whole minute left?? DAMN YOU FOX SPORTS AND YOUR CRAPPY FEED!!
And the Vikings make a FANTASTIC goal line stand and hold the Bears to a field goal despite them being on the 1. Halftime score 24-21. I'm okay with that. We need to kick some ass in the second half though.
Second half has started, and we don't let Hester have a huge return! Hooray! A little extracurricular activity down there, but the Vikings got out of the way quickly and no flags thrown. And then we allow Cutler to pick up a 15 yard toss. GRR.
BOOM and Jared Allen stops Forte on the reverse for an 8 yard loss. That is what I like to see!! Pressure on Cutler, but we don't get to him in time to stop him making a 12 yard pass to Forte. Bah.
Ooooh and Robison hits Cutler and nearly gets him picked off...too bad whoever that was couldn't get it.
Ponder makes a daring scramble on 4th and 1 to get a first down, and then Adrian Peterson fumbles. Let's see if the refs think his knee was down...I can't tell from the replay, it goes too fast for my tiny screen. It was a fumble. BAH.
Defense holds CHI to just one yard in that 3-n-out, and we fair catch at the 8. Not bad, D!!
Cordarrelle Patterson with a nice little catch. I'd like to see some more of him, based on what I've seen so far. Hope the staff knows what they're doing, limiting him to 5 snaps last game. Gerhart gets a 1st down on his first carry of the season! Good for him.
Jarius Wright WIDE open down the field and Ponder never even looked at him, threw an incompletion in the middle of the field. Sigh. Then a BEAUTIFUL pass to Simpson in the face of a blitz on 3rd and 7! Why can't THAT Ponder just be the one on the field at all times?! (P.S. Very nice Simpson, very nice indeed.)
WHEW, that review proved the pass was incomplete and the Bears did NOT "recover a fumble" in the endzone. Now we can try for a FG and tie it up. What a relief!
And Harrison Smith with a BEAUTIFUL interception!!! Oh man, I'm glad we got him for sure.
This Vikings' drive is pretty damn good so far, Ponder ran for a first and they gave it to him, the NOSE of the football just over the marker, and the Bears are challenging the spot. We'll see.
Small note is that SEVEN different guys have catches right now, which makes me very happy. I do enjoy when we have enough (good) receivers that we can spread the ball around. Makes it tougher for the other defense too.
So they overturn it (STUPID if you ask me), we go for it, get the 1st, and then Peterson trying to reverse the field loses 13 yards. Oh boy. At least we're resting the defense, right?
And the field goal is GOOD, and we have the lead! WHEW! Let's see what happens in the last 8:05...
LATROY GUION STEALS THE BALL FROM FORTE AT THE 47 YARD LINE!!!
Wow and a crazy catch by Simpson, I can't believe he got that. WOW WHAT A CATCH BY JENNINGS!! He got fucking sandwiched but he held onto it in the redzone!
We get stopped at the goal line, and Walsh's field goal makes it Vikings lead 30-24. Well, defense, we're all looking at you. Oof, this is a stressful last few minutes! According to Twitter, it's pouring out there, so maybe it'll make things harder for the offense?? I'm hoping so! LOL
What a tip by Xavier Rhodes!! Saved a TD I'm sure! And the Bears hold, so they're pushed back 10 yards, still 1st down. SHIT great play by the Bears.
And the Bears score. They're up by one and we have 10 seconds. Let's see. And we fumble and Bears get the ball. That's that. Final Bears 31 - 30 Vikings
You know, this was a solid game. Ponder tried. He did well except for going conservative on that last drive. And that interception. I'm not as depressed about Ponder as I was. I'm pissed at Peterson's fumble, but he seems to have a hurt hand so that may not be carelessness.
The defense did really well except for that last drive - Chris Cook I'm officially peeved at you for getting confused on the goalline like that - and they scored a TD, stripped two footballs, and made two INTs, so that would generally be a very successful day.
This was a crazy game, no denying that. But we have got to stop with the stupid mistakes! Thank goodness, we didn't seem to be in much penalty trouble today, but we can't give up big gashing plays because they lead to field goals! If the Bears didn't have that FG at the end of the 1st half, we would've won. Think about that.
My brain is too mixed up from a ghastly weekend (being an Aggie and a Viking this week has been no fun - thank God the Gators didn't play) to think clearly. I'm going to sit back a few hours and see if anything emerges from the fog.
SKOL!
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