I don't know whether I would have cursed or admired Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier if he had stubbornly stuck with Donovan McNabb as the team's starting quarterback for another week.
However, I won't be faced with that decision as the news came out today that 2011 first-round draft pick Christian Ponder will take over for McNabb as the starting quarterback for the 1-5 squad this Sunday.
ESPN 1500's Judd Zulgad speculates Frazier's hand was forced by vice-president of player personnel Rick Spielman, but whatever the reason, Ponder gets to start against 6-0 Green Bay.
The move might just save Frazier's head coaching career. The Vikings have 10 games left in the season and they still have to play the Packers (twice), plus the Bears, Lions, Atlanta, Oakland, and New Orleans. Road games against Carolina, Washington and Denver don't look all that winnable, either.
In other words, the Vikings could be headed to a 2-14 or 3-13 season. The last time a Vikings head coach had that kind of record in his first year with the team, he got fired.
But by turning to Ponder now, Frazier takes the focus off his coaching job and puts it on (what we hope) is the future of the franchise. If Ponder plays well and the Vikings win some games, fans will be encouraged by the rookie's play and will be optimistic heading into 2012.
On the flip side, if Ponder struggles and the Vikings only win another game or two, Frazier can point to the fact he's developing a young quarterback and these are the kind of growing pains fans can expect. That might cause Viking fanatics to have a lot of doubts about Ponder, but at least they'll know the Vikings have some high draft picks that they can use to fill some holes and Ponder has room to grow as a player.
Either way, Frazier probably gets the Wilf's to buy into this rebuilding thing, which will convince them to keep him around for 2012. But if the Vikings go 1-5 to start the 2012 season ....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment