Minnesota Vikings’ defensive end Jim Marshall found his place in history books on this day in 1964 alongside others like aviator Douglas Corrigan and fellow athlete Roy Riegels. They all had the same “middle” name: Wrong Way.
They were branded with this middle name for going the wrong way.
“After recovering a fumble against the 49ers in San Francisco, Minnesota Vikings star defensive end Jim Marshall runs 66 yards the wrong way into his own end zone. The four-year veteran believes he has scored a touchdown, so he throws the ball out of bounds in celebration, resulting in a safety for San Franscisco and putting an exclamation point on one of the worst gaffes in NFL history. Despite Marshall’s error, the Vikings win, 27-22.
“It was the nuttiest thing I’d ever seen,” said Minnesota offensive tackle Grady Alderman.
“On the return flight to Minnesota, teammates ribbed Marshall, who said he simply got confused. “They kept telling me to get up in the cockpit and fly the plane,” he told The Minneapolis Star. “That way we’d end up in Hawaii instead of Minnesota.”1
Roy Riegels did the same thing in the 1928 Rose Bowl. Corrigan went the wrong way “accidently” in 1938 when he made an unauthorized flight to Ireland instead of Long Beach, California. While Riegels and Marshall only suffered some humiliation, Corrigan could have suffered the loss of his pilot’s license as well as his life had the plane not made it.
While Corrigan knew where he was headed, Riegels and Marshall didn’t. They thought
they were going in the right direction. They celebrated as if they had accomplished great things only to be embarrassed to find that they had actually gone the wrong way.
Are you going the right way or will you be shocked one day to find that you weren’t?
Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? (23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Consider the description of the “many” in verse 22. They had prophesied in the Lord’s name. They had cast out demons. They had done many wonderful things. These were good, church-going, religious people.
They thought they were going the right direction only to find that they weren’t. The final destination wasn’t Ireland or the other team’s endzone. It was eternal Hell. And there was no turning around.
Riegels, Marshall, and Corrigan could have all turned around. They had people telling them that they were going the wrong direction. Marshall and Riegels were intent on scoring. They thought the voices were cheering them on while, in truth, the voices were trying to get them to go the other way. The adrenaline and excitement made them deaf.
Corrigan chose to go the wrong way. He chose to defy the voices on the radio telling him he was off course. He chose to ignore the maps and the flight plan. He chose to do what 
he wanted.
So many in our world are doing the same thing with their eternal soul. Some are deaf to the cries of those trying to get them to turn around while others are just belligerently stubborn. In the end, though, each person who was going the wrong way will wish they hadn’t.
The Lord’s instructions are clear and I ask that we each consider ourselves, examining the way we are going. Matthew 7:13-14 instructs, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: (14) Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
1https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/worst-nfl-mistakes-gaffes-jim-marshall-minnesota-vikings
Images are taken from https://pixabay.com/, https://www.pexels.com/, or https://unsplash.com/images or created in Windows Copilot. According to the websites, they are Royalty Free and free to be used for our purposes.
