Vikings and Fandom

I tried.

I tried to treat Sunday's Vikings game as just another Sunday.

My stomach, churning like a drum full of lottery balls, was telling me otherwise. Of course, my mind knew this was different. "Come on Marcus, you dummy. This is for the playoffs."

Admittedly, I try to play it down the middle and unbiased. I aspire to be an objective source for a career. That didn't end up happening Sunday. I like the Vikings and fanhood reigned as Minnesota punched a ticket to the NFL playoffs, defeating the awful, mouth-breathing Green Bay Packers and extinguishing the dreams of the Chicago Bears and the playoffs.

Sometimes I kid myself and put myself in the shoes of a Timberwolves fan or a Wild fan. I really do like the Gophers (for no logical reason) and the Twins are it for the bulk of summer.

None compare to the Vikings.

Adrian Peterson is doing amazing things and he's an MVP. Christian Ponder is good enough for me and for this team right now. He made the plays when it mattered and his critics can kick rocks. Blair Walsh cashes every kick.

That's not to say I'm not critical. The defensive backs (without Antoine Winfield, as it appears they will be) continue to suck and can't tackle. Bill Musgrave does a good job as offensive coordinator but he might as well be calling plays off a credit card. Phil Loadholt could be an idiot.

I tried not to say bad things on Twitter. Maybe I wouldn't even be on Twitter during the game, I thought. Nope. I fired off a "Green Bay Whiners" tweet in the first quarter and I was off and running. My phone was attached to my fingers for three-and-a-half hours. (BTW, I thought The Sports Lounge account was mocking me during the game. I liked it and hated it at the same time.)

I laughed. I yelled. I scowled. I cheered. I cringed. Football as we know it. Cheeseburger soup waited between bites and I followed a few superstitions Sunday afternoon. I said more bad things about Troy Aikman than Joe Buck. (Which is by the way, the way that works. Buck > Aikman.) I don't think I breathed regularly until the Walsh field goal squeaked by the upright with ":00" on the clock.

Before I get too far, that was a terrific game. It would have been regardless of result. The ebb and flow was with good and bad and I was writhing with it all the way. Even fans with purple-soaked perspectives knew Discount Double Check & Co. were going to rally from a 10-0 deficit and I'm willing to wager the paint thinner-drinking, Jermichael Finley worshiping Packa fans knew that final kick would deliver Wayne Larrivee's "Dagger."

That's a rivalry, folks.

In the end, I would have lived either way. I lived through the "Take A Knee in '98," "41-0," "Nate Poole," and "12 Men in the Huddle." In most occassions, it's not a matter of if they'll let you down but when, and more importantly, how the Vikings will turn the knife.

Truly, I would have been happy with any result Sunday. They had a six win turnaround from the year ago and their best draft in ages. There was progress from 2011 to 2012 and winning four in a row down the stretch builds confidence for 2013.

I know good things come to an end. After all, I'm a Vikings fan. But I'm enjoying every retching turn for now.

To the terrible Packa fans: Bring it.

Nothing to Ponder

I'm not going to waste a ton of time on this because just about everything has been said about how poorly Christian Ponder played Sunday vs. the Packers.

He did. He sucked.

I don't, however, believe he sucks. By comparison.

AP is not happy with 6-6. I can't blame him.

Bluntly: If you think Joe Webb is going to do a better job than Ponder, you are wrong. There's a reason he's not playing and it's mainly because he can't pass or really "play quarterback." If Minnesota wanted to play some sort of Taylor Martinez style of offense, they would have him in there already. Honestly, the parallels between Joe Webb and Tim Tebow are there and neither of them are playing this season for good reasons.

This is basically it. Ponder is not good. Webb is worse. And you don't want to know about McLeod Bethel-Thompson.

I like Joe Webb but the Vikings have been disingenuous to him for most of his career. They've tried the quarterback thing and it hasn't worked. They've talked about receiver but that's never happened. They're teasing right now that they could put him at quarterback but at best it's lip service.

I don't have massive issues with play calling. Adrian Peterson did this all game for crying out loud. I would have done more with AP in the redzone but if No. 7 doesn't throw it to the other team, Minnesota probably wins.

My bird is more with the receivers. If Rick Spielman thought he could go into the year with Jerome Simpson as the No. 1 option, then he was drastically misguided. Drafting Greg Childs and Jarius Wright hasn't worked to plan and Michael Jenkins is an embarrassment to pass catchers. Not to mention the defense couldn't get off the field on third down and let the Packers drive for 11 minutes in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings are in a no win situation and if they were worse than 6-6, people wouldn't care. Unfortunately, they showed that they could be better than they are.

Ponder is going to get more leash even though he doesn't deserve it and the Vikings issues at quarterback aren't going away anytime soon.

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Also on the blog: Kriens: We're at Spergon Wynn levels now