Vikings get ‘Tebowed’ 35-32
By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 12/07/2011
Vikings fall to 2-10, tied for the worst record in the NFC, after losing at home Sunday to Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos. The Broncos are one of the NFL's hottest teams, winners of five in a row, and now thanks to the Vikings they are in first place in the AFC West.
Tim Tebow gets away (photo: Steve Floyd)
Defensively, the Vikings have never been worse. They allowed Denver a 100-yard rusher (Willis McGahee with111 yards), a 100-yard receiver
(Demaryius Lewis with 144 yards), and a 200-yard passer (Tebow with 202 yards).
Everybody keeps talking about Tebow, but Tebow is a winner. Apparently his prayers even helped heal Urban Meyer, his ex-coach at Florida. Meyer left Florida after Tebow for health reasons, but just like that he's back, coaching at his alma mater Ohio State.
Tebow meets Adrian Peterson (photo: Steve Floyd)
Do you believe in miracles? It's time to believe in Tebow — all he does is win. He's 6-1; as a starter he makes plays with his head, his feet, his arm, and more importantly his heart, and he does not turn the ball over. Sunday he had a questionable fumble after being sacked by Jared Allen,that was it.
Winning is the bottom line, and Tebow, a former Heisman Trophy winner and two-time national champion, is a winner.
Sunday he played his best game. Who said he can't pass? He threw for 202 yards and was 10-15 with two touchdown passes, a two-point conversion, and a QB rating of 147.5.
Tebow on the move (photo: Steve Floyd)
The biggest thing Tebow did Sunday? He had one turnover while Christian Ponder had three. And that, my friends, was the difference in the game. When Vikings fans look back at the team's 10th loss of 2011, they can only say that had the Vikings had Donovan McNabb, they might have won. Not on the field, but on the sideline — the 13-year veteran should have been on the sideline for the Vikings' Golden Boy Ponder.
You see, the Vikings released McNabb last Thursday. Nobody claimed him off waivers, which means the Vikings paid McNabb $1.7 million to go home. Yes, that's the Vikings, the same organization that expects Minnesota taxpayers to give it $735 million for the $1.1 Billion Arden Hills fantasy.
So, had McNabb been on the bench supporting the rookie Ponder, communicating & explaining to him in the fourth quarter what to do and not to do, don't force anything. I believe the Vikings could have beaten Tebow. Yes, the Vikings Tebowed themselves.
Tebow leads the way (photo: Steve Floyd)
Developing Ponder in a situation like Sunday is what it's all about.McNabb has been in that situation 40, maybe 50 times, in a fourth-quarter, 1.33 left last-minute, at-home game tied on the line 32-32. McNabb would have helped calm Ponder down and talk him through his progressions.
With no McNabb to support and mentor Ponder, the kid made the critical mistake: He threw another interception, a bad one, his second of the game right into coverage,his third turnover remember the fumble he had in the redzone?
Tebow thanks GOD! (photo: Steve Floyd)
The Vikings dumped McNabb midweek once Sage Rosenfels became available they set the wheel in motion last week.Apparently they believe a career white backup quarterback with no previous success or credentials no playoff wins.Is better for Ponder as his backup.I disagree it's another big Vikings blunder plus they have to pay Ronsenfels $500,000.
Broncos win, Tebow wins, Vikings lose.Ponder is now 0-2 against Tebow — he lost in college at Florida State and again on Sunday. Ponder set a Vikings passing record for a rookie, breaking
Christian Ponder throws for 381 (photo: Steve Floyd)
Fran Tarkenton's mark of 381 yards, 3TDs, 29-47, QB rating 90.8, two interceptions. The Vikings had 489 yards, ran 81 plays to Denver's 49, and kept the ball for 38 minutes.
The Vikings simply created another way to lose a football game they should have won. And again, it happened in the second half. Mercy!
Perscy Harvin on the move (photo: Steve Floyd)
Percy Harvin played at Florida also and gave the Vikings a fighting chance. He had another great day with eight catches,156 yards and two touchdowns. He played his heart out he was sensational again.
FITZ BEAT : Abuse cover-ups jeopardize public's trust
PHOENIX — So much is going on in sports, and it’s happening so fast, and it’s both good and bad. This column will focus on the bad.
Leading the bad is the revolting shock waves upon learning of Penn State and the massive sex abuse scandal of Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator for ex-Penn State head coach Joe Paterno’s two National Championship teams.
Sandusky faces charges of 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys. Penn State fired Paterno and the university’s president.
It is the most disturbing scandal of institutional control in our lifetime, how White educated grown men tried to cover up this scandal by simply turning their heads. It’s the most horrific example of White man’s privilege since slavery.
Surely Penn State will get the death penalty for harboring a monster — that is, if the NCAA is doing what’s right. Now Syracuse University’s basketball program has its own version of sexual abuse. Bernie Fine, longtime assistant coach to Jim Boeheim, the head men’s basketball coach, has been accused of doing the same thing to two former ball boys. This bizarre story was held under wraps for years by, of all people, ESPN.
Boeheim defended his assistant Fine and accused the victims of extortion. Fine was later fired by Syracuse University after his wife said on tape, recorded years ago by one of the victims, that she knew of the abuse by her husband with the ball boys.
Boeheim is now under fire also for his defense of Fine and for attacking the abused boys’ character and motive. Will he be fired? Should he be fired? One thing is certain: The boys at the NCAA in Indianapolis need to start checking a lot closer into the backgrounds of NCAA coaches. Quit worrying about who paid for a lunch or whether a player’s father took money and get to the bottom of how something like this can take place and nobody does anything about it. What about the public trust?
This is not a rush to judgment by me. I spent two days in Pennsylvania checking and back-checking on the Penn State Sandusky indictment, how history will say that Paterno is the all-time winningest coach passing Grambling’s Eddie Robinson. Yet Paterno, who hired Sandusky, was fired one week after passing Robinson in the record books, and it’s clear in the Sandusky indictments that his abuse started back in 1994 with young boys!
Who accepts responsibility for this? How could several men allow these horrible acts to children to just happen and continue to say, “Hi, Jerry” and do nothing? How sick are these people?
Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and on WDGY-AM 740 Monday-Friday at 12:17 pm and 4:17 pm; he also commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2), and you can follow him on Twitter at FitzBeatSr. Larry welcomes reader responses to info@larry-fitzgerald.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.
