Minnesota Vikings fans are no strangers to watching bad quarterbacks play for their favorite team. When asking a Vikings fan who the worst-ever quarterback in franchise history was, the answers might vary depending on the criteria but if you swap the criteria to being what the expectations were for each quarterback, it feels like there might be a more united answer.
That answer would be Christian Ponder, who the Vikings took 12th overall in the 2011 NFL Draft.
The pick was considered a reach at the time, but Minnesota knew they needed to plan for the future at the sport's most important position after Brett Favre's final season in 2010, so they drafted Ponder and hoped he could develop into a franchise starter for them.
Why Christian Ponder is the worst quarterback in Minnesota Vikings history
The Vikings likely hadn't planned for Ponder to be thrust into action right away, as they traded for Donovan McNabb before the 2011 season got underway. Unfortunately for them, McNabb was terrible, which paved the way for Ponder to play before he was truly ready.
To the surprise of no one, Ponder faltered under pressure. He threw the same number of interceptions as he did touchdowns (13) in 11 games and only managed to win two of his 10 starts. Even with that being the case, the Vikings turned to him for the 2012 season, hoping that he could find his footing and put everything together.
For a brief moment at the beginning of the 2012 season, it looked as though Ponder had turned the corner and could hang in the league. He helped get Minnesota off to a 5-2 record before the former first-rounder came crashing back down to earth and put up dreadful performance after dreadful performance.
Some might point to the Vikings reaching the playoffs as a reason for Ponder not to wear the crown for worst quarterback, but he was not the reason Minnesota was playoff-bound in the 2012 season. Were it not for an MVP season from Adrian Peterson, the Vikings would not have been anywhere close to the postseason, so that should not be an argument in Ponder's favor (plus, Ponder didn't even start the playoff game due to an injury).
In 2013, expectations grew after the up-and-down season Ponder put together the year before, but he unfortunately didn't live up to those. The Vikings started the year 0-3, and soon the quarterback position became a revolving door between Ponder, Matt Cassel, and Josh Freeman, which, reading that back, is like a nightmare you don't wake up from.
Between inconsistencies and injuries, Ponder did not have a successful third year in the pros, and the Vikings had to make a decision. They spent a first-round pick on Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater, officially waving the white flag on the Christian Ponder experiment.
While Ponder did see playing time in 2014 due to an injury to Bridgewater, that would be it for him in a Vikings uniform. It was also the final time he'd play in a regular-season game. Ponder inked a contract with the Oakland Raiders in the 2015 offseason to serve as the backup to Derek Carr, but didn't make the final roster. He also spent time with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016 but never saw the field.
Considering the Vikings spent a first-round pick on Ponder and he didn't live up to those first-round expectations, deeming him the worst quarterback in franchise history isn't a stretch in the slightest.