Two Sundays ago, before the Vikings beat the Bears to climb back over .500, FOX’s Jimmy Johnson called Christian Ponder the worst quarterback in the league.
“Maybe his wife can teach him to throw,” Johnson said.
At the time, Johnson was technically incorrect; Ponder had not married ESPN sideline reporter Samantha Steele. If Johnson had waited eight days, he would have been right.
Ponder and Steele were married on Monday, according to the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.
It’s the latest step in a whirlwind romance that began during the 2012 football season, with both Ponder and Steele spending plenty of time working but apparently enough time to decide that they each had found “the one.”
Though it’s unclear whether Ponder would be playing any better (or worse) if he hadn’t spent a large chunk of the season pursuing a fairly important off-field life objective since he hadn’t previously played enough for anyone to conclude whether he is or isn’t a good NFL quarterback, we can only imagine the storm of criticism that would have been directed to, say, Tony Romo if he’d done something similar.