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| On 11 years ago

Open Forum: Third Quarter

By Adam Warwas

The second quarter began with the final play of the first quarter being reversed, giving Green Bay a touchdown and the lead, while Mason Crosby booted the kickoff through the endzone for a touchback.

Then the second quarter got underway officially.

Then disaster struck.  Joe Webb tripped over a completely beat Clay Matthews for a sack and then got obliterated, once again tossing the ball up to nowhere, on third down putting the Packers offense back on the field.

Harrison getting a good lick on DuJuan Harris, Jared Allen getting a coverage sack, and then another solid tackle from Smith on a Greg Jennings completion allowed the Vikings defense to escape without allowing any more damage to be done.

The Vikings offense then had a fairly uneventful three and out, ending with a Jerome Simpson completion where he was short of the first down marker, a problem that has plagued the Vikings all season.

The Packers were then able to dink and dunk their way down the field, but stalled out just short of field goal range, and decided to go for it on a 4th and five situation.  Of course, Greg Jennings converted a pass and beat Chris Cook after the catch before being shoved out of bounds at the two.  A stop of John Kuhn followed by a Jermichael Finley drop followed by yet another stop of Kuhn resulted in another 4th down situation.

This time, the Packers opted for the chip shot field goal, which extended the Packers lead to seven full points.

The next drive got started off by a nice return from Marcus Sherels, but a Marvin Mitchell penalty set the Vikings back, and Joe Webb once again took the field who immediately overthrew Jerome Simpson on a deep shot by about 10 yards and then was sacked.  Kluwe had to punt out of the Vikings endzone.

At the two minute warning, momentum sure seemed to be going the opposite directions than what the Vikings would have preferred.

With a two minute drill underway, Aaron Rodgers looked to be at his finest as he drove down the field with big gains from Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings putting them inside the five yard line.  Once again the Vikings tried to make a stand near the goalline, except this time fullback John Kuhn was successful in running one in.  This score put the Packers up by two touchdowns and left only 38 seconds on the clock for the Vikings to work with.

A penalty on the short kickoff gave the Vikings decent field position.  A checkdown to Adrian Peterson, an overthrown deep ball, and then a short run from Peterson kept the Vikings offense alive but a long ways away from the end zone.  Then three very poor passes in a row ended the half with the Packers leading 17-3.

Adam Warwas

Adam Warwas (Founder) has been writing about the Vikings for a total of eight years. Five of those years have been here at Vikings Territory where he continues to surround himself with enough talented individuals that people keep coming back. As proud as he is of what Vikings Territory has become, his real treasures are in his home... a beautiful wife and three amazing children (and a dog named Percy).

Tags: adrian peterson jerome simpson joe webb

View Comments

  • not only do we not have ponder, but we've now lost webb and AD because we can't just run
    where's the d line?

  • Another reason to continue hating Brad Childress. He drafted Webb as a WR then saw “Something” and being the smartest guy in the NFL, switched him to QB.

  • Wow, I guess i really thought we would get more out of webb, Its not like he is a rookie...
    How many years has he been in the Nfl now???

  • Gonna have to throw the ball second half so just as well dust off MBT and see what happens

  • Still, I'm the least upset I've ever been watching the Vikings lose. We exceeded all expectations this season and the sky is the limit for next year.The only bummer is not being able to see Ponder in the last game or two, to be able to get more info on him as to if we still need a QB.
    We need to spend the entire second half with nothing but AD and QB bootlegs and maybe a flea-flicker or two thrown in. NO MORE PASSING PLAYS FOR WEBB. Just run Baby, RUN!

    • Fran,
      Lol I,m bummed Ponder didn't get a chance to play, Would have liked to see how he handled the 1st playoff game... Not mad,Your right have a bright future ahead...

  • this might become a post-season exhibition game with mbt. i say try it, he's got a strong arm

  • Lets pull your heads out and play some football. Any chance of covering someone?