SB Nation Minnesota - Christian Ponder Expected To Start Vs. Chicago

Chicago Bears Injury Report, Week 17: Devin Hester, Julius Peppers Return To Practice

2011-12-30T04:23:15Z

The Chicago Bears have already been without Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, and they may be without Brian Urlacher and Marion Barber on Sunday when they close out their injury riddled season against the Minnesota Vikings. Urlacher missed his second straight day of practice on Thursday with a knee injury and Barber did not practice again due to a calf injury.

The good news is that Devin Hester (ankle) was a full participant on Thursday after being limited yesterday. Julius Peppers also returned to practice on Thursday after missing Wednesday's due to a non-injury related matter.

Here is the full injury report for the Chicago Bears:

Player	Pos.	Injury	Status	Status	Status
Marion Barber	RB	Calf	Did not participate	Did not participate
Kellen Davis	TE	Ill	Did not participate	Did not participate
Julius Peppers	DE	Not injury related	Did not participate
Brian Urlacher	LB	Knee	Did not participate	Did not participate
Corey Wootton	DE	Concussion	Limited participation	Full participation
Nick Roach	LB	Shin	Limited participation	Full participation
Chris Spencer	C	Back	Limited participation	Full participation
Devin Hester	WR	Ankle	Limited participation	Full participation
Lance Briggs	LB	Ankle		Limited participation

For more on the Chicago Bears, visit Windy City Gridiron. For more on the Minnesota Vikings, head over to Daily Norseman.

Minnesota Vikings Injury Report, Week 17: Christian Ponder Expected To Start Vs. Bears

2011-12-30T04:08:59Z

As of this morning, it was being reported that quarterback Christian Ponder would start this weekend in the Vikings' season finale against the Chicago Bears. Well, he was a full participant in practice on Thursday, which should bolster that possibility. That has to be disappointing news for Joe Webb, who led the VIkes to a win last week against the Washington Redskins, despite having to deal with the team losing its star running back Adrian Peterson for the season with a torn ACL.

Here is the full injury report for the Vikings:

NAME	POSITION	INJURY	WED.	THU.	FRI.	GAME STATUS
Allen, Asher	CB	Shoulder / Concussion	FP	FP	-	-
Cook, Chris	CB	Not Injury Related	Out	Out	-	-
Herrera, Anthony	G	Lower Back	DNP	LP	-	-
Ponder, Christian	QB	Concussion	FP	FP	-	-
Sanford, Jamarca	S	Shoulder	LP	LP	-	-
Sapp, Benny	DB	Shoulder	FP	FP

For more on the Minnesota Vikings, head to Daily Norseman.

Christian Ponder Improving, May Start Vs. Bears

2011-12-29T13:49:45Z

Christian Ponder was knocked from Sunday's win over the Washington Redskins, but has passed all the necessary tests this week and is expected to start the regular season finale against the Chicago Bears. it was rumored that Joe Webb would possibly get his first start of the season after leading Minnesota to a win, but it appears now that the rookie Ponder will start:

Ponder has passed all the necessary tests and is ready to come back for more against Chicago on Sunday. Ponder saw a neurologist on Tuesday and was cleared to play, so he will start in the season finale.

"I guess I actually scored higher on my baseline tests so maybe I got some sense knocked into me," Ponder deadpanned on Wednesday after returning to practice.

Webb was 4 of 5 for only 84 yards against the Redskins, but two of his passes went for touchdowns to Percy Harvin and Kyle Rudolph. Webb also rushed for 34 yards and a touchdowns ans Minnesota broke a six game losing streak in a come from behind win.

NFL Draft 2012: Vikings Could Pick Anywhere From Second To Sixth

2011-12-27T17:00:57Z

The Minnesota Vikings can no longer get the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft by virtue of their win over the Washington Redskins in Week 16; the Vikes would lose (win?) tiebreakers against the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams if all three teams finished at 3-13. But all is not lost for Minnesota: the Vikings could still secure the second overall pick in the NFL Draft, and will fall no further than sixth.

Daily Norseman Christopher Gates breaks down Vikings' No. 2 pick scenario:

Obviously, if the Vikings lose on Sunday to the Chicago Bears, they can select no worse than third. If the Rams win and the Vikings lose, then it would appear that the Vikings would leapfrog the Rams based on strength of schedule and wind up with the second spot. However, the Rams are going to be facing a San Francisco 49ers team that is still fighting for the second overall seed in the NFC and a first-round playoff bye, so that's a pretty tall order. With all due respect to our friends at Turf Show Times, I wouldn't anticipate a St. Louis victory on Sunday.

If the Vikings win, though, they could slide to sixth, falling behind the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For more on the Minnesota Vikings, head to Daily Norseman.

Joe Webb Could Start Minnesota Vikings Final Game Of The Season

2011-12-26T14:13:56Z

The Minnesota Vikings spent their first round draft pick on Christian Ponder last year, but the team's past couple of games are apparently making the coaching staff re-think that decision. The reason being, of course, that Joe Webb may have been the quarterback of the future all along.

Webb was selected in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, but has been looked at as more of a gadget guy who can provide different looks rather than a prototypical quarterback. His ability to lead a second Vikings comeback in as many appearances has apparently made head coach Leslie Frazier re-think that, however, according to statements made to 1500 ESPN.

"Some of the things he does, man, and what it does to the rest of our team -- you can't ignore it," Frazier said after Webb led three touchdown drives in relief of injured Christian Ponder and the Vikings beat the Washington Redskins 33-26.

"It's something we're going to take a real hard look at as we go forward. He definitely lifts our team. He's done it. He did it a season ago as well."

Few fans will be happy if Webb earns the starting spot over Ponder heading into next season -- though that'll be more due to the drafting of Ponder than the starting of Webb -- but it'll be worth keeping an eye on as Minnesota continues looking forward to next season.

Vikings At Redskins Final Score: Minnesota Defeats Washington, 33-26

2011-12-24T22:22:32Z

The Minnesota Vikings were battered all over FedEx Field on Christmas Eve against the Washington Redskins. On consecutive plays in the third quarter, they lost running back Adrian Peterson to a horrific leg injury, and then lost Christian Ponder to a concussion. However, as they have done for most of the season, they fought all the way through to the end, and managed to come away with a 33-26 victory behind the arm (and legs) of Joe Webb and the running of Toby Gerhart.

The Vikings got off to an early ten-point lead in this one, thanks to a 36-yard Ryan Longwell field goal that came after a strip-sack of Rex Grossman by defensive end Brian Robison and a 1-yard touchdown run by Adrian Peterson on the first play of the second quarter.

However, following the Peterson touchdown run, Ryan Longwell put the ensuing kickoff out of bounds, and the Redskins took advantage of the good field position to score a touchdown, putting together a 60-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard pass from Grossman to Donte Stallworth. The Redskins tied it up just before halftime with a 26-yard field goal from Graham Gano, sending the teams into the locker room tied at ten.

The Vikings got the ball first in the second half, and that's when all hell broke loose for the Vikings. On Minnesota's first offensive play, Peterson took a handoff, ran up the middle, and was tackled by Washington's DeJon Gomes. Peterson did not get up, and was writhing in pain on the field. He eventually needed to be helped off the field, unable to put any weight at all on his left leg. It looked like a pretty horrific knee injury, but we don't know the extent of it yet. Once we have word on the injury, we will bring you word of it. Peterson is set to have an MRI on his injured knee this evening, according to Vikings' head coach Leslie Frazier.

Then, on the next play, quarterback Christian Ponder dropped back to pass and absorbed a helmet-to-helmet hit from Redskins' defensive lineman Barry Cofield. Ponder managed to stay in for one more play, but was then taken to the locker room for a concussion, and did not return to the game. He absorbed a helmet-to-helmet hit in the first quarter from safety Reed Doughty as well, but did not miss any action as a result of that one.

That meant that it was up to Joe Webb and Toby Gerhart to rally the troops, and that's exactly what they did. After a 53-yard field goal from Gano that gave the Redskins a 13-10 lead, Gerhart took a handoff from Webb and streaked 67 yards down the left sideline, finally being pushed out of bounds at the Washington 8. Two plays later, Webb took a snap on an option play and kept it himself for a 9-yard touchdown run to give Minnesota a 17-13 lead.

The action really picked up from there, as the Redskins responded with another touchdown of their own, as Grossman led Washington down the field again and ended a drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Grossman to Jabar Gaffney. Gaffney beat Benny Sapp and made an outstanding one-handed catch on the play, despite Sapp having pretty good coverage. That play gave the Redskins the lead back at 20-17.

Toby Gerhart wasn't having any of that, however, as he rumbled for 22 yards on two carries to start Minnesota's next drive, including a 14-yard blast on 3rd-and-1 to get the Vikings to midfield. A 31-yard end-around from Percy Harvin followed, and two plays later Webb found rookie tight end Kyle Rudolph in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown catch. Unfortunately, Longwell's rough day continued as he missed the extra point wide to the right, and the Vikings' lead stayed at 23-20.

The Redskins then followed up with another Gano field goal to tie the score at 23, and Joe Webb went to work again, leading the Vikings on a 72-yard scoring drive. He made a huge throw to Percy Harvin to gain 36 yards on 3rd-and-10, and then hit Devin Aromashodu for 19 yards to follow that up. Two plays later, Webb found Harvin again for an 8-yard touchdown pass, and the Vikings were back on top by a count of 30-23.

And then. . .the unthinkable happened.

On a 2nd-and-10 play from the Washington 32, Grossman dropped back to pass, and overthrew Santana Moss, landing the ball right into the breadbasket of Vikings' rookie safety Mistral Raymond for an interception. It was the first pass intercepted by a Minnesota Vikings' player in over thirty-nine quarters of football. If you add up all of the game time that elapsed between those two occurrences, it would total nine hours, fifty-two minutes, and thirty seconds of football between interceptions for the Vikings.

The Vikings converted the turnover into a 23-yard Ryan Longwell field goal to take a 33-23 lead. The Redskins got a 47-yard field goal from Gano to cut the lead to 33-26, and the Redskins got themselves into position for a Hail Mary at the end, but Raymond batted the pass down, and the Vikings escaped with the victory.

The victory for the Vikings officially eliminates them from consideration for the top overall pick in the National Football League draft. They can still finish 3-13 and tie with the Indianapolis Colts, but the Colts would "win" any strength of schedule tiebreaker with the Vikings, so the best the Vikings can do is the second overall selection.

In happier news, Jared Allen collected a sack of Rex Grossman this afternoon, giving him a total of 18.5 on the season. While it appears that Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22.5 is out of reach, Chris Doleman's Vikings' record of 21 (the third-highest single-season total in NFL history) might be attainable in the season finale against the Chicago Bears.

Gerhart put together the first 100-yard performance of his career, carrying the ball 11 times for 109 yards on the afternoon. Webb finished the afternoon with four completions in five attempts for 84 yards and two touchdowns, in addition to five carries for 34 yards and another score. The Vikings were +2 in the takeaway/giveaway ratio in this one, as they did not turn the ball over this afternoon, and the six points they turned those turnovers into played a big role in Minnesota's victory.

The Vikings will finish the season on New Year's Day at the Metrodome against the Chicago Bears and, in the process, attempt to avoid finishing in a tie with the 1984 Minnesota Vikings for the worst record in franchise history. The 1984 team went 3-13, and a victory on January 1 would help the Vikings to avoid that fate.

Vikings At Redskins Update: Minnesota Ends Ridiculous Streak

2011-12-24T20:56:42Z

The Minnesota Vikings had not intercepted a pass since Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals, when Jamarca Sanford picked off Arizona Cardinals' backup Richard Bartell on the Cardinals' final offense play of Minnesota's Week Five victory.

That is, they hadn't intercepted a pass since then. . .until just a few minutes ago.

The Vikings ended a streak of 298 consecutive pass attempts faced without an interception. . .a streak that encompassed an NFL record nine games (not to mention three-fourths of a tenth game). . .when Rex Grossman dropped back to pass, missed Santana Moss, and found rookie safety Mistral Raymond in the fourth quarter of this afternoon's game. Raymond took the ball into Washington territory, and the Vikings converted another Ryan Longwell field goal from there to make the score 33-23 in favor of the Vikings.

The Redskins are driving, and we are at the two-minute warning at FedEx Field on what can be described as a truly up-and-down day for the Vikings' faithful.

Congratulations to rookie safety Mistral Raymond on his first National Football League interception, and for ending one of the most ridiculous streaks in Minnesota Vikings' history.

UPDATE: The Redskins have just kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 33-26, with an onside kick almost certainly coming next.

Vikings At Redskins Score Update: Percy Harvin Gets Into The End Zone

2011-12-24T20:39:21Z

The Minnesota Vikings might have a quarterback controversy going into 2012. . .but rather than being between Christian Ponder and Andrew Luck, it might just be between Christian Ponder. . .and Joe Webb.

Webb has taken the Vikings to their third touchdown in as many drives, giving the Vikings a 30-23 lead in response to a field goal that had tied the game for the Washington Redskins.

It took the Vikings six plays to move 72 yards, half of which came on a big third down throw from Joe Webb to Percy Harvin for 36 yards on a 3rd-and-10 play. After that, Webb found Devin Aromashodu for a 23-yard gain, and two plays later found Harvin in the right flat again, and Harvin did the rest for an 8-yard touchdown pass.

Webb is now 4-for-5 passing for 84 yards and two touchdowns, and also has a touchdown run since coming in to relieve a concussed Christian Ponder.

Time is winding down in the fourth quarter at FedEx Field, and the Minnesota Vikings lead the Washington Redskins by a score of 30-23.