The Viking Age » donovan mcnabb

Donovan McNabb Is Taking a Network Broadcast Job

Dan Zinski — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 13:28:40 +0000

Feb 1, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb is interviewed on the NFL Network set at the Super Bowl XLVI media center at the J.W. Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Looks like Donovan McNabb is finally ready to segue into the next phase of his life. Sports Business Journal’s Liz Mullen reports that McNabb has hired an agent and is “close to agreeing to a network job.” We’ll have to wait and see which network he’s signing with and what his role will be. But it looks like his NFL career is over, a year too late in the minds of Viking fans.

McNabb has always been a fairly affable and funny guy so presumably he should make a good analyst. Maybe he could become the new Mike Pereira? He’s always had a firm grasp of the rules. I kid. Obviously, McNabb’s future is as a sideline reporter a la Tony Siragusa. He has the sense of humor and will soon have the girth. I’m on a roll today.

In all seriousness, if this is the final goodbye for McNabb, he deserves a hearty pat on the back for an excellent NFL career. He never got the ring but he did get close and for a few years there he was genuinely elite. Sadly, by the time he got to Minnesota it had all passed him by. The McNabb we saw last year in purple was but a shadow of the former McNabb. A fat shadow.

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Where would the Vikings be if they had not picked up McNabb in 2011?

Nick McAndrews — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 00:15:20 +0000

The Minnesota Vikings had an absolutely abysmal 2011 season, and that was largely highlighted by a 0-4 start to the season that gave up double-digit leads in each of the games.
Though this flop was entirely a team blunder, QB Donovan McNabb received most of the blame. This was due to his lackluster performance (and that’s putting it nicely) and his apparent lack of effort behind the scenes.
Regardless of McNabb’s performance, his presence was somewhat of a distraction and his inability to pull out wins early on in the season gave the Vikings a very negative label, despite actually competing very well.
The thought that just came to me almost nine months later is: what if the Vikings never picked up McNabb? What if the Vikings had started Joe Webb instead?
I understand that in the first four games of the season, the defense failed to hold onto leads. The thing is, offensive production was so non-existent in the second halves of these games, that it’s really not that surprising they weren’t able to win.
I’m not guaranteeing that with Joe Webb in the game, the Vikings would have won their first four games. But the morale on the field clearly rose once Ponder took the field in week six and even more so when Webb replaced an injured Ponder.
That being said, if Webb did start from week one and the Vikings did start the season 4-0, things would have been much more interesting in the land of 10,000 lakes.
I need to clear up two things before I go on from here:
1) I don’t believe that Webb should be the starter now. The team clearly has all of its eggs in Ponder’s basket, and I think it should remain that way.
2) I don’t believe that Webb made the Vikings a playoff team. They hit a wall after coming close but falling short so often.
Webb would not have been a veteran entering the 2011 season, and that is what the Vikings were looking for with McNabb. So in an essence, this idea probably was not even being considered by the Vikings’ staff. But a more athletic QB with experience winning in a big game could have been what they needed more so than a veteran.
Ultimately, Ponder was destined to take over as the starting QB. So Webb would have complicated things much more than McNabb did. But the way I see it, having two guys fighting to prove they should be starting is much better than two guys showing that they either should not be starting anymore or aren’t ready to start in the first place.
Webb was ready to start week one in 2011. Now, at best, he’s trade bait.
I don’t want to see a QB controversy now, and the fact that there won’t be one makes the Vikings better in 2012. But considering the fact that the Vikings lost 8 games by a touchdown or less speaks to the fact that Webb could have been the difference between possibly competing in the division and being one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Just a “what if?” kind of idea.

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Donovan McNabb Still Wants to Play

Dan Zinski — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:53:31 +0000

There isn’t much of a market for 35-year-old quarterbacks whose past two seasons both ended with them riding the bench, but that fact won’t deter Donovan McNabb from putting his name out there for a job. McNabb says he still wants to play, and is keeping himself in shape for when the phone rings.

“I sort of have some unfinished business,” McNabb told the The Waddle & Silvy Show. “I love the game, I have a passion for the game, and I look forward to continuing that on.

“I’ve been training hard and preparing myself in San Diego working with George Whitfield, the obviously well known quarterback guru, supposedly, over the past month,” McNabb added. “Just kind of refining the skills, working on the mechanics and getting back to a high level, an elite level. I’m just waiting for the opportunity to display that.”

McNabb was last seen on an NFL football field in week 6 of 2011. He was pulled in the second half of that game in favor of Christian Ponder and never got back in the line-up. He ultimately asked for and was given his release by the Vikings. Rumor had that McNabb secured his release in the belief his home town Chicago Bears would pick him up as an injury replacement for Jay Cutler but that never materialized.

And what makes McNabb believe some team would be willing to take a chance on him now? After three different teams gave up on him? After loads of stories about his poor work habits and lack of game preparation?

Only Donovan knows the answer to that. I personally would be shocked if he lands even a back-up job this year. McNabb can talk all he wants about his past success and how he would vote for himself as a Hall of Famer, but the fact is those days are long behind him. If McNabb had more reputation as a gamer – like, say, Brett Favre – maybe someone would take a shot. But when a guy can’t produce and is reportedly lazy besides? Forget about it.

Time for Donovan to move to the booth. He’s a pretty funny guy, he should be good. Maybe they could team him up with Terrell Owens. That would be…entertaining.

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