Minnesota Vikings: Handing out Awards for Week 1

Minnesota Vikings fans were all suffering from deja vu. After blowing big leads in the first four games of 2011, the Vikings were about to top all of those, giving up a 39-yard touchdown pass to the Jacksonville Jaguars with just 27 seconds left in the game.

You have to be kidding me.

And then the Vikings did something we never saw them do all of last year. They sucked it up and got the job done anyway. In an improbable series of plays that had to have Jacksonville fans pulling their hair out, rookie kicker Blair Walsh became a folk hero in Minnesota and the Vikings pulled a magic act to beat the Jaguars 26-23 in overtime Sunday afternoon.

It might be hyperbole to say this was a "must" win game for Minnesota, but considering the fragile psyche of this team after getting beat down so many times last season, losing a heart-breaker at home to a team that is one of the worst in the league could have been disastrous. 

Winning this game was like making a 25-footer with 10 feet of break to save par.

So the smiles of victory are accompanied with several doses of "what the heck just happened?" But a win is a win and we look at who takes the MVP, LVP and best rookie for the Vikings in their exciting Week 1 win.

MVP: Percy Harvin

Percy Harvin was simply the best player on the field Sunday afternoon. 

When the Vikings were flat early, Harvin was ferocious. When the Vikings needed a jump start, Harvin gave it to them. When you wanted to know who was the toughest person on the field Sunday, Harvin was running over, under, around and through the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Harvin piled up 192 all-purpose yards, which is a fantastic game to be sure, but the numbers don't even begin to tell the story. While the rest of the team wearing purple came out like they were playing their fifth preseason game, Harvin came out like he was let out of a cage.

He ran fast. He ran with swagger. When he was tackled, he put the hit on the tackler rather than vice versa.

Adrian Peterson proved once again that he's a physical freak. Just eight months removed from total reconstructive knee surgery, Peterson was back as the Peterson of old, running for 84 yards and two touchdowns and thrilling fantasy football owners everywhere who took a chance on him.

Christian Ponder played his best game as a Viking after a shaky first half. Ponder fumbled the ball away in the third quarter and it seemed to wake him up as he looked like a star from that point on.

Blair Walsh might have a song written about him after his first game in the NFL.

Percy Harvin was the best player on the field. 

LVP: Vikings Coaching Staff

How does a team coming off a 3-13 season come out that flat? How does a team playing at home in the first game of the year come out that indifferent?

Where was the fire? Where was the leadership?

Yes, the Minnesota Vikings won Sunday afternoon, but not after flirting with a defeat that would have been nothing less than mortifying.

Leslie Frazier again burned a timeout in the first half right on the heels of an injury timeout. Frazier and Musgrave went with three running plays up the gut on a possession where one first down would have iced the victory.

Three runs up the gut at a time in the game where the Vikings were passing at will on the Jaguars. The three runs burned a total of 29 seconds off the clock and the Jaguars had more than enough time to put together a late drive.

Sure enough, the Jaguars pulled out a miracle touchdown, scoring on a 39-yard pass from Blaine Gabbert to Cecil Shorts. And yes, Chris Cook got beat on the play, but how on earth did he not have safety help on that play? 

The Vikings won the game, so we'll move on.

Top Rookie: Blair Walsh

While bouquets are certainly due to the top two picks, Matt Kalil and Harrison Smith, this one is a complete no-brainer.

The Vikings sixth-round pick, kicker Blair Walsh, can bask in the hero role after Sunday's improbable 26-23 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Walsh was a perfect 4-of-4 on his field-goal attempts and was perfect on his kickoffs, pinning the Jaguars every kick.

But that doesn't even begin to tell the story. A 55-yarder with no time on the clock to send the game to overtime? A 37-yarder in overtime? Walsh blasted the 55-yarder like he was at practice, it would have been good from 65 yards. The overtime kick was dead center. 

A rookie kicker is going to get many chances to choke. Blair Walsh was given four of them on Sunday and he didn't even blink.