Breaks go Vikings' way for a change

You often hear coaches use the axiom that teams have to make their own breaks and nobody is going to hand them anything.

However, I might be in the minority, but I think this Vikings team has been snakebitten.

Like Bud Grant said recently, the Vikings have been in almost every game, where one play could have turned defeat into victory.

On Sunday, you saw the flip side of things. The Vikings defeated Carolina because they got two big breaks.

Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith was called for a holding penalty at the 8-yard line with 36 seconds left, negating what would have been a first-and-goal situation with the Panthers in position to score a winning touchdown. The penalty wiped out the first down, pushing Carolina back to the 18-yard line.

Two plays later, the Vikings got the biggest break they've had all season when Panthers kicker Olindo Mare, who had made 13 out of 15 field goals this year, missed an easy 31-yarder that would have sent the game into overtime.

However, there's another big reason for the victory. This is simply a different football team with Christian Ponder at quarterback. I predict that in a couple of years they will be comparing him with Fran Tarkenton because of his ability to scramble and throw.

It's also evident that some of the other Vikings offensive players are getting more opportunities for big plays with Ponder playing instead of veteran Donovan McNabb.

In McNabb's six starts, Adrian Peterson had 10 receptions for 49 yards. In two games with Ponder, he had six receptions for 76 yards, including a touchdown Sunday, only the third receiving TD of his career. He had a rough time at first against the Panthers but then really got going, finishing with 21 carries for 86 yards with another TD.

Visanthe Shiancoe, who had 16 catches for 159 yards with McNabb at quarterback, had only three catches for 37 yards Sunday, but all three catches were for first downs on third-and-9 or third-and-10. Against the Packers last week, the tight end caught four passes for 45 yards, including his second touchdown of the season.

Need Harvin healthy Now that this team no longer has Sidney Rice, it needs a lot of contributions from Percy Harvin, who had a big day in Charlotte even though he is playing with some very sore ribs. He had been questionable for the game, but his presence in uniform proved to be critical for the Vikings.

In the first quarter, he lined up as a running back and scored the Vikings' first touchdown on a 10-yard run. He finished with three carries for 16 yards and four receptions for 58 yards, an impressive average of 14.5 yards per carry.

Furthermore, backup running back Toby Gerhart had his best day of the year, getting five carries for 26 yards.

Defense improves Defensively, the Vikings settled down after the Panthers scored touchdowns on three of four drives, not counting a possession right before halftime.

The Vikings held Carolina to three consecutive three-and-outs in the second half to go from seven points down to three up. They made a big mistake when they gave up a 44-yard reception to Brandon LaFell on fourth-and-14 when any kind of stop would have won the game, setting up the dramatic finish.

As usual, Chad Greenway led the Vikings in tackles with 13. Fellow linebacker Erin Henderson made some key stops as well, finishing with five tackles. But again, nobody on the field had a better day than Jared Allen, who forced a fumble on his one sack of Cam Newton, with Greenway recovering the fumble to set up a touchdown; batted down a pass; and even chased Newton down on a 24-yard scramble for one of his five tackles, all solo.

Yes Ponder is going to get better with every game. And if you are looking for a reminder of just how important a good quarterback is, just check out the winless Colts, a Super Bowl contender every year, who have been unable to do much of anything on offense with Peyton Manning on the sidelines all season.

Dungy said this past week that he understands how slow the process of developing a young quarterback can be and how much pressure a rookie coach can feel.

"When I look back at my first year at Tampa [1996], I see a lot of the same things [Frazier is] going through now," Dungy said. "We started 0-5, but we stuck with [third-year quarterback] Trent Dilfer because you're trying to build for the future. It's painful to go through it, but it subsequently paid off."

Dilfer threw 18 interceptions in his first year as starter in 1995 and 19 with Dungy as coach in '96. He eventually developed into a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, albeit with the Baltimore Ravens. "A lot of people wanted us to make a change," Dungy said, "but you have to think of the long-term good of the team."

Dungy won a Super Bowl as Colts coach with Frazier on his staff and is close friends with Jim Caldwell, Dungy's successor in Indianapolis. That Frazier and Caldwell are a combined 2-14 this year hurts him almost as it does them, he said.

"I hate to see the guys struggle. I know they're good men, and they're not going to change, not going to buckle to pressure," Dungy said. "Leslie is doing well, though. He's frustrated, disappointed, but you can see what he's doing to get this team on the right path."

Dungy's foundation does similar work in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and the Twin Cities, where his brother Linden, a Farmington dentist, and sister-in-law Donna take the program to area schools. Dungy's foundation will be featured on the Big Ten Network's "LiveBIG" program, a show that profiles the community service work of Big Ten alumni, at 6:30 p.m. Monday.