The drive to Minneapolis was tough but at last we made it to the stadium. The Bears fans came in droves. I sit in the upper deck and so were the many hundreds of Bears fans.
The Glallarhorn was blown to signal the Vikings were coming by legendary St. John’s University Coach John Gagliardi.
The next was the introduction of the Vikings players and just what I thought would happen did and that was the Vikings offense was announced. It was just fine until Christian Ponder’s name was announced. The booing happened just as I expected but not as bad as I thought would happen.
I had a Packers fan dressed in all green two rows in front of me turn around and say “Go Vikes.”I had to respond “Go Lions.” I love this NFL North competition.
The Bears fans were making themselves known until the first play when Adrian Peterson takes the opening handoff and there he goes. It really set a tone for the crowd at least for the first quarter.
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler throws an interception by Vikings Josh Robinson who took it to the house, so we thought. I thought the roof was going to blow off as Vikings were up 14-0. The crowd was so loud there was no realization at first that the play was under review.
The Vikings offense starts deep in Bears territory and I was fearful if we do not get a touchdown out of this it could be a huge swing of emotion for the Bears. I am very thankful the Vikings got a touchdown out of it.
I got a bad feeling after the exciting start to the game and then the Vikings offense went dormant the Bears would come back. The Bears TD making it 14-7 really gave an uncomfortable feeling.
The boos were ringing out of the rafters and then to make matters worse the Bears fans were extremely loud with Lets go Bears, Lets Go Bears. I sat in disappointment listening to the opponent fans being loud.
The interception return by Harrison Smith for a touchdown really brought the emotion back to the crowd and gave me a better feeling.
The score was 21-7 Vikes with 4:26 left in the 4th quarter when what do I see, Bears fans leaving in big chunks. I thought only 2 scores down anything is possible.
I thought the Vikings defense played an inspired game with hustle. I also thought middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley played the game of his life. It has been Greenway seemingly being week in and out the tackling leader. Today it was Brinkley’s turn.
The Bears player who could not be stopped was wide receiver Brandon Marshall. The catches he made were just simply amazing. I do not know who I was more impressed with Lions’ Calvin Johnson or today Marshall. I really thought Vikings had at times good coverage but yet Marshall still ripped the ball out of the air. As a football fan you have to appreciate the efforts Marshall had.
It was a huge win today for the Vikings today to keep the playoffs hopes still alive.
I stayed after the game and got to see from my seat a cool NFL moment, I watched Brandon Marshall and Adrian Peterson exchange game worn jerseys.
This game especially a division game and to see players do something like this. I also saw two premier pass rushers, Julius Peppers and Jared Allen smiling and patting each other on the back.
The game is over but to let you know some other interesting sights during the game. The video board showed a pregame video the Vikes do each game. Cory Cove from KFAN goes amongst people outside and sees what they would do for an autographed item.
Today 2 people had a time limit to see how many clothes pins they could stick on their face, ears or lips. I could not count them all but all I could do was feel the pain watching the video.
The other fact today was the heat in the dome. It was as hot as I can ever remember. I found out after the game with the new roof and the snow we had the heat is set to keep the roof melted so a collapse would not happen again.
The walk back to the car was treacherous as nothing had been plowed or sidewalks had not have ice melt. The fun was watching the snowball flying. I even saw a Vikings-Bears snowball fight between fans. They were each laughing so I know it was all good.
I will say of all the Bears-Vikings games I have attended this was the best I have seen fans act. I did not see anyone hauled out by the police.
All in all outside the weather was awful but inside was all fun as a Vikings win.
The call in show now has Cory Cove and former Vikes Linebacker, Ben Leber. I would say 90 percent of the call ins were to talk about Ponder and his struggles. It was strange but kind of expected even after a win.
Congrats to Coach Frazier on his first victory over Chicago.
Thanks for reading
Purplestick
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