With a young quarterback not ready enough to run the offense at its full potential, the Minnesota Vikings went out and added a multi-time Pro Bowl signal-caller prior to the 2011 season to help reduce the stress of having someone inexperienced start under center.
Sound familiar?
Yes, the current version of the Vikings certainly has several things in common with the franchise's 2011 squad, especially the part where Minnesota brought in Donovan McNabb to help give Christian Ponder the proper amount of time he needed to develop.
Unfortunately, plans quickly changed for the Vikings once McNabb actually stepped onto the field in a purple and gold uniform, and it's safe to assume that Minnesota's 2026 team is hoping Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy don't re-create the experience that the organization had to go through in 2011 with McNabb and Ponder.
Minnesota Vikings 1-Year Rentals: Donovan McNabb in 2011
How it happened
2011 was an odd year for the NFL. A lockout between the league's owners and the NFLPA began in early March and lasted all the way until July 25th.
A provision in the previous CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) allowed the 2011 NFL Draft to still take place on its originally scheduled date, but due to the lockout, free agency and offseason practices had to be put on hold.
During that draft, Minnesota ended up using the 12th overall pick to select Ponder, but then, due to the lockout, he wasn't able to take advantage of any of the spring practices that rookies typically participated in every offseason.
So, to make up for Ponder's lack of offseason development, the Vikings went out and agreed to a deal with Washington to acquire McNabb for two future sixth-round draft picks two days after the lockout ended.
Just like Ponder, though, the lockout prevented McNabb from using spring practices to learn Minnesota's offense, and instead, he had to speed-read through the team's playbook in just a handful of weeks before the regular season kicked off.
How it went
Before joining the Vikings in 2011, McNabb had consistently been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. In 11 seasons with the Eagles, McNabb earned six Pro Bowl selections and helped lead Philadelphia to five NFC Championship appearances.
Well, Minnesota didn't get the Eagles-version of McNabb, and that was made extremely clear during his very first start for the Vikings in 2011.
Minnesota traveled out west to take on the San Diego Chargers in Week 1 of the 2011 season, and on McNabb's very first pass attempt of the matchup, the ball wound up getting intercepted by Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips.
That was just a sign of things to come as the veteran quarterback finished his first start with the Vikings completing just 7-of-15 passes for a whopping 39 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Unsurprisingly, Minnesota wasn't able to overcome McNabb throwing for fewer yards than a seventh-grade junior varsity quarterback, and they ended up with a 24-17 loss to San Diego to begin the 2011 campaign.
39 passing yards is straight-up pitiful, so there was really nowhere to go but up for McNabb after Week 1, right?
Not quite.
With McNabb starting under center, the Vikings began the 2011 season with losses in five of their first six games. His performances got better after Week 1, but they still weren't enough to make any sort of notable impact.
In six starts for Minnesota in 2011, McNabb completed 60.3 percent of his passes for 1,026 yards (171 per game average), four touchdowns, and two interceptions to earn a passer rating of 82.9.
How it ended
After his sixth start resulted in a 39-10 loss to the Chicago Bears, the Vikings decided to pull the plug on McNabb as the team's starter and replaced him with Ponder.
Little did McNabb know, that 29-point loss to the Bears would turn out to be the final game of his NFL career.
After sitting on the sidelines for five straight games, McNabb asked Minnesota to release him in the middle of the season, and they went ahead and granted his request on December 1st.
His hope was to land with another team before the end of the 2011 season, but that never ended up happening.
Instead, his NFL career that was packed with plenty of memorable moments wound up coming to a close with a season that he would rather forget.
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