I dont know about you Vikings fans, but im starting to get a bit pissed at watching what i see as a good competitive football team in the hands of an aging quarterback brought in to deliver us unto the promised land but instead providing only mediocre play and if anything makeing our team worse.
Dont get me wrong im not blaming everything that has happened so far this season squarely on McNabb there is plenty of blame to go around, that includes the Vikings front office and coaching staff. But ill get to that another time. For now ill just focus on the quarterback position.
The Vikings currently sit at 1-4 with no chance in hell of making the playoff’s. Our QB play has been poor, our wide recivers have been practically non existent (see Bernard Berrian) and our offensive line has really struggled (although we were always expecting that). And so i ask what do we have to loose by playing Christian Ponder?.
The Vikings owe nothing to Donavan McNabb he is nothing more than a stopgap quarterback brought in cheaply to fill a hole, if it worked out well for both parties then great but it hasnt worked out that way. Now its time to play the rookie. With the Vikings seemingly getting worse week by week surely there comes a time that Leslie Frazier will want to see what Christian Ponder has got to offer.
Sure it is a bit hard on the rookie to chuck him into the Vikings current situation, but if anything it will show us Vikings fans what he’s made off. If he comes in plays well and helps this team win without any real help apart from AP we will know he has the ability to lead this team for years to come. If he comes in cracks under the pressure and doesnt look the part we know he may not be the answer.
With the season only five games in the Vikings could always choose to start Ponder for a few games and if he doesnt find his feet just take him out and replace him with either McNabb or Joe Webb. Then return to Ponder later on in the season. That would give Ponder the chance to reflect on his first experiance in the NFL and give the Vikings coaching staff more time to work with him on any of his shortcomings.
After all what is the worst possible outcome for the Vikings this season? we go 1-15 and draft a one in a generation talent in Andrew Luck, a quarterback that can really push this franchise into the forefront of the NFL over the coming years! would that really be all that bad?. You just have to look at what the Lions are doing to see all the difference a franchise quarterback can make. It couldnt hurt the Vikings stadium plans either to have a Andrew Luck/Adrian Peterson combination leading our franchise into the future.