Wow

Where to start?

Ponder was not awful. In fact, for the third straight game he was competent, his one long pass, a completion, was the difference in the game. So MUCH went RIGHT for the Vikings yesterday that it was almost uncanny.

Even the things that went horribly bad did not hurt us. I won't begrudge the Packers getting a touchdown on a play in which the refs originally ruled a fumble. It really was a touchdown. The only problem is that the refs manipulated a league rule to make it happen. The penalty for that red flag being thrown on a play (that is to be reviewed automatically) is that it can no longer be reviewed. It doesn't matter if they started reviewing it or not. YES, the rule is hideously stupid, and they will change it AFTER the season, but the refs deliberately decided not to follow it by adding their own interpretation to it.

That was wrong. The same exact stupid play happened twice this year and as stupid as the rule is, the refs decided NOT to enforce it this time.

That ruling did not effect the outcome of the game, but it sure made for an incredible fourth quarter.

Peterson was ON yesterday. He fell nine yards short of the all-time record, but even that makes him look like a sympathetic underdog at this point. He came out as a humble hero who won the game instead. It's got to be personally disappointing for Adrian the player, but his reputation grows by leaps and bounds with the gracious way he missed that goal.

Both defenses were full of holes, but our line sacked Rodgers more than Green Bay sacked Ponder. The one turnover of the game came from one of those sacks. It ultimately stopped Green Bay's momentum AND resulted in another score for us.

Ponder hit on several key passes in the game and ended with no INTs. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Yesterday he showed a little of both. His last TD pass looked like it was intercepted. How we came up with it bordered on the miraculous. He was throwing the ball wide and high most of the game even on the simplest passes, but our receivers did a great job of hauling in 2/3 of them. Ponder's rating for the game was 120. We'll all take that any day.

I'm already worried about NEXT week. We barely won a game in which Ponder was practically perfect AND Adrian ran for 200 yards. How tough is it going to be to repeat that kind of performance in Wisconsin?

Let's put it this way. If I were a big Green Bay fan, I sure wouldn't be losing any sleep over the outcome of next week's game.

Lightening rarely strikes twice, especially in the very cold winter.