A few thoughts about Week 3

Nine fourth-quarter come from behind victories

The last two weeks were filmed from the same script: All the favorites were in heaps of trouble as of half-time in just about all their games. Most of them came from behind to win. Of course, the Bills were nobody's favorite (except mine), but they also followed this pattern. We finished the evening with the Steelers.

Steelers vs Colts was a titanic struggle

I'm not going to play coy with you folks: I didn't even want to watch this game. I went to the gym around 5ish because I had no intention of watching this game closely. Fortunately, 24 Hour Fitness is Thousand Oaks is full of 52 inch Samsung LCDs, and several of them were showing the game.

What a battle! The Steelers were completely ambushed by the Colts. It looks to me like the pride of the Colt defense had been abused just a little too much for them to stomach. This was the game where they were going to make their stand and prove everybody wrong, For three quarters of play, the Colts out-smashed the Steelers at every turn. When Kerry Collins left the game with a concussion and Curtis Painter came in, I was sure the Colts were done for. Sure enough, Harrison strip-sacks Painter from behind and Troy Polamalu was there to scoop-n-score. But the kid didn't quit, he comes right back on the field and connects on three major passes to put the Colts in the end zone. Ben Roethlisberger pulled another 2-minute rabbit out of his hat, and Suisham nails the game winning field-goal.

The Steelers prevailed 23-20 in the 9th fourth quarter come-back of the day, but it cost them dearly. The Steeler offensive line suffered two deadly losses in Marcus Gilbert and Doug Legursky; that is, both of their offensive tackles. This was a suspect group anyhow, and now both OTs are hurt. It sucks to be Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers may have won the battle but lost the war.

The Vikings are the most snake-bit team in the NFL

A couple of years ago, NFL Films made a top-10 documentary entitled the NFL's Top 10 Most Snake-Bit Teams. The Vikings were ranked #2 behind the Browns in that documentary. At the time the film was made, the ranking might have been valid, but no longer. There can be little doubt that the Vikings are the NFL's most snake-bit team.

Just look at all the hellfire and tarnation they have suffered in the past 2 or so years! They have a magic season with Favre, but in the end, the clock strikes midnight, and Favre turns back into Favre, throwing a peck of interceptions. Adrian Peterson also fumbled like an SOB. They are snake-bit in the NFC Championship game versus the Saints.

Still, they think they are close to a championship, so they kidnap Favre off the farm and bring him back for one more round. Unfortunately, this Favre is suffering the cumulative effective of a billion injuries. He is now snake-bit, and so is the franchise. Then the roof collapses on them, literally and figuratively. It don't get more snake-bit than that.

However, just as you are getting ready to cast them into the purgatory of rebuilding, the Vikings get lucky, acquiring Donovan McNabb for one (possibly two) 6th round draft choices. They also get him at a cut-rate in pay. It looks like the franchise's luck is turning around.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Donovan throws for just 39 yards in his debut as a Viking, and the Vikings blow a 17 point lead en route to opening day loss to the Chargers. They blow a 10 point lead en route to a 24-20 week two loss to the Bucs. Today, they blew a 20-0 half-time lead en route to a 26-23 loss to the Lions. There can be little doubt that the Vikings are utterly snake-bit. This is the most snake-bit franchise in the NFL.

Right now, it's probably worse to be Viking fan than it is to be a Ram-fan, and believe me, that is pretty hard. I can tell you from personal experience.