Vikings QB Christian Ponder: Don’t Blame Samantha!

After a hot start, the Minnesota Vikings have cooled down a bit, dropping three of their last four games.  So now, some fans think second year quarterback Christian Ponder’s  girlfriend Samantha Steele is to blame.  Steel is a reporter for ESPN, so she has at least a somewhat higher profile than the average NFL player’s girlfriend.

The thought process for some people out there is that any high profile girlfriend must be a distraction if a player is having a hard time of it on the field.  Ponder himself has struggled a little the last couple of weeks, so that must be it, right?  After all, look how the Dallas Cowboys’ Tony Romo did while dating Carrie Underwood a few years ago.  Oh wait, he’s not doing so hot this year either, so maybe that theory is suspect.

Ponder says Steele has nothing to do with the Vikings’ recent struggles, and they were dating earlier this year when the team was doing better.  As for the hot Ms. Steele being a distraction, well, these guys tend to have hot girlfriends so if he wasn’t dating Samantha, he’d be seeing another hottie… 

We think it would be more of a distraction if they broke up during the season.