Vikings Come Up Short Against Pack, Killa Cam Awaits in Week 8

The best QB in the NFL. *Wipes Eye*

Welcome back to Odin's Eye ladies and gentlemen! Week 7 marked the beginning of the Christian Ponder era, and boy did it start with a bang. Michael Jenkins came inches away from being the guy with 50+ yard touchdowns on two different players' first ever NFL pass, taking a nice double-move route 72 yards. Two plays later, CP7 had his first career touchdown pass and the state of Minnesota let out a collective sigh of relief. We may have a franchise quarterback.

Speaking of franchise quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers was surgical against us as I predicted. This man is the best quarterback in the league and has been. Some folks have been keeping the Bradys and Mannings of the world above him, but you simply cannot deny it any longer. Manning and Brady have been doing it for longer and that may be why some people give them the nod over Rodgers, but let's get real. How often do you see either of those guys roll out at full speed and with a flick of the wrist, drop a ball 35 yards upfield right into their receivers' chest? The man is a beast. Rodgers finished with 335 yards, 3 touchdowns, and only 6 incompletions (Oh, and one discount double-check). He sits atop the league with a robust 125.7 passer rating. In case you are wondering, the record for passer rating in a season is 121.1, set by Peyton Manning in 2004, so he's not just playing well, he's playing record-breakingly well.

What I did not predict however, was Christian Ponder pumping some life into what was an absolutely stagnant offense only a week ago. Sure, he went 13-32 and threw two pretty bad picks to Charles Woodson, who was quoted as saying he thought he should have had four (He did have 4 decent opportunities, but the 2 he converted were especially easy). These are areas he will need to improve on, as one was just a forced throw on an out to Shiancoe and the other he simply needed to get more loft on and the route was undercut by Woodson. HOWEVAH, he did something that Donovan McNabb had failed to do for six games and that was consistently convert third downs (9-16) and hit receivers between the numbers while doing it. Ponder showed some great improvisational skills and was at his best on rollouts, and I was very impressed with his ability to bounce back after completing ZERO passes in the 3rd quarter and throwing 2 interceptions within a three-throw span. He led us on a great drive to bring the score within 6, but fell just short on the next after being faced with a 98-yard field. The defense couldn't stop James Starks after we punted with little over 2 minutes left and 3 timeouts, and that was that. Eye-Catchers and Stink Eyes as well as a Week 8 preview, after the jump.