Forgive Blair Walsh Though He Has Sinned in Football Terms – NFL News
By Andrew “Drew The Picture” Hames
I normally prefer to stick to boxing articles, but felt the need to address the dramatic ending to this past weekend’s NFC Wildcard playoff match between the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks. And the now famously infamous kicker Blair Walsh, who missed a 27-yard virtual PAT of a field goal that would’ve all but sealed a dramatic upset for the Vikings over the defending NFC champions.
There are two glaring levels of irony to this story, the first being the remarkable season Walsh was has having up until this catastrophe, having virtually been perfect between the uprights all season long. Speculation arose about the laces of the ball facing him on the snap, and forcing an errant snap, but the degree of how badly he missed the kick makes this difficult to believe it was anything short of a proverbial choke. I feel bad for Teddy Bridgewater and the valiant effort Minnesota’s defense put forth in shutting Seahawks Super Bowl-winning QB Russell Wilson out for 3 quarters of the game. And in fairness to Walsh, he was responsible for all 9 of the Vikings’ points in the game. Too bad he couldn’t have scored 12…..
The second utter irony comes nearly in the form of a now recurring series of meltdowns that have left Minnesota with very little to hold up in the Lombardi department, and a growing reputation for meltdowns that have outweighed otherwise great careers. Gary Andersen was among the NFL’s greatest kickers of all time when he missed a chip shot that would’ve sent the Vikings to the Super Bowl in a Jack Johnson monkey-wrenching loss in the NFC Championship to the Atlanta Falcons (Sorry, I had to throw at least one boxing reference in), and the little legacy a kicker is even allowed to have was forever tainted, among far worse misfortunes he suffered that we’ll-discuss after the completion of this point. And while this Vikings historic mishap didn’t cost them a championship or even a win for that matter, Hall Of Fame Vikings linebacker Jim Marshall’s legacy was forever tainted in a game he actually scored the game-clenching strip-sack in, for returning a fumble to the opponent’s end zone earlier in the game, sadly becoming the most frequently played highlight of his great career. Like the actual Viking warriors, their historic achievements are often overshadowed by the fact that they died off…
The primary motivation of this article was a case of Dejavu from the Gary Andersen story, where he reportedly received multiple death threats from irate Vikings fans, had his home badly vandalized and returned to a “Dear John” letter, with this wife leaving him over the whole debacle…
To the Minnesota fans abroad, I ask of you to please forego any acts of violence against Blair Walsh for disappointing you, and find the humanity to forgive him. He could very well end up kicking the game-winning field goal for you in a Super Bowl. We all make horrible mistakes, only ours usually don’t involve the world stage and an entire state of people riding on it. I’m sure Blair and his family don’t need your insistence on feeling miserable right now, and there’s probably nothing you could do to him that he hasn’t already thought of doing to himself anyway. I hope for the sake of sport and humanity that both Blair and his now anti-fans exercise self control, so that no further tragedies far worse than the game of football occur…
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