Sid Hartman: Standouts fell short at Chicago

Looking back at the Vikings' 36-30 overtime loss at Chicago on Sunday night, it is a little strange to see that three of their most dependable players were involved in critical plays that contributed to the defeat.

Ryan Longwell, who had converted on 89 consecutive extra points, had his point-after attempt blocked following the Vikings' first touchdown, a point that could have prevented overtime. In fairness to Longwell, the hold by Chris Kluwe might not have been the best.

Then, Adrian Peterson's fumble in the overtime on the Vikings 39-yard line set up the winning touchdown pass from Jay Cutler to Devin Aromashodu, who entered the Nov. 12 Bears-Vikings game at the Metrodome with only one catch all season and was listed as a third-string receiver at the time.

Aromashodu's touchdown came at the expense of outstanding cornerback Antoine Winfield, who let Aromashodu run right past him on the final play of the game.

In the case of Longwell, he is one of the best placekickers in the history of the NFL, but he is also human and is going to miss sometimes. Going into Sunday, he was second in the league on converting field goals at 91.7 percent, connecting on 22 of 24 attempts.

The game film shows that Peterson's facemask was grabbed by Hunter Hillenmeyer as the Chicago linebacker forced Peterson to lose control of the ball. Peterson has made a lot of great contributions to the Vikings in his three NFL seasons, but the running back has to find a cure for his fumbling.

As for Winfield, he missed six games because of a foot injury before returning Dec. 13, and it's cleart that if he were healthy, Aromashodu would have never gotten behind him on the final play.

"[The foot] has been affecting me ever since it did it. It is tough to push off on, but I'm dealing with it, working week to week to try to get it better. The same stuff we saw on film. I just couldn't run with the guy, he just made a good play."

Winfield said he could have easily made the play if he was 100 percent healthy. "Early in the season it would have been a easy play for me," he said.

The Vikings have lost three of four, but he doesn't understand all the negative talk about the team. "We are 11-4, I think you all are acting like we're 4-11," he said of the fans. "We are having a good year, we are playing at home [Sunday against the Giants], we play well at home, so we expect to go out here and get a win."

Coaches get the blame for the losses, but Sunday's game proved even the great players fail at times.

Playoff near sellout More than 85 percent of Vikings season-ticket holders have purchased tickets for the team's first playoff game. After 7,000 individual tickets were sold, there are only 2,000 left. With Sunday's game against the Giants sold out, a sellout in the playoffs would be the Vikings' 126th in a row at the Metrodome, dating to the end of the 1997 season.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning both apologized to fans Monday after the team got beat by Carolina 41-9 on Sunday. Not only was it their last game at Giants Stadium, but the loss combined with Dallas and Green Bay victories eliminated New York from the playoffs. "The one thing I'd like to say to our fans is that to a man, we'd like to apologize," Coughlin told the New York media. Manning said: "I apologize. I'm sorry. I wish I had an answer." The Giants and Jets move into a new stadium next year.

While the Vikings had eight players named to the Pro Bowl, the Giants only had one in center Shaun O'Hara.

Jottings Because he is averaging close to 30 points per game and playing outstanding basketball, the Gophers are very interested in Hopkins junior guard Joe Coleman, brother of former Gophers forward Dan, who is now playing in Europe. ... You wonder how much Royce White would be playing for the Gophers if he wasn't suspended, based on the playing time of fellow freshman Rodney Williams, who played only nine minutes in Tuesday's 75-70 victory over Penn State.

Ryan Wittman, the former Eden Prairie star and the son of former Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman, scored a career-high 34 points Tuesday in Cornell's 78-75 victory over La Salle, becoming the Big Red's career leading scorer with 1,667 points. It's been a big month for the younger Wittman, who hit a 30-footer at the overtime buzzer Dec. 20 to send Cornell past Davidson 91-88 at Madison Square Garden.

Mike Dunbar, the offensive coordinator for the Gophers football team in 2008, was hired in that role for New Mexico State on Wednesday. He will work under Aggies coach DeWayne Walker, a former Gophers defensive back. The school's athletic director is McKinley Boston, the former Gophers player, AD and vice president. ... Texas Christian's Gary Patterson, who was recently named National Coach of the Year, was one of the first coaches interviewed three years ago to replace Glen Mason before the Gophers hired Tim Brewster. Patterson turned the job down the first time but then called back and said he was interested. However, by that time the Gophers had hired Brewster. Charlie Strong, the former Florida assistant coach who was recently hired to coach Louisville, was the last man interviewed before Brewster was hired.

Hastings' Derek Stepan (Wisconsin) and Eden Prairie's Danny Kristo (North Dakota) scored for the U.S. in the opening game of the world junior championships against Slovakia. ... Former Gophers forward Ben Gordon notched his first career American Hockey League goal Monday in his second game with the Toronto Marlies after signing a pro tryout contract on Sunday. Gordon registered a team-high 40 points (16 goals and 24 assists) in 28 games for the Reading Royals of the East Coast Hockey League.