Christian Ponder to start for the Minnesota Vikings (Finally!)

In an announcement on October 18th, head coach Leslie Frazier of the Minnesota Vikings named rookie first round pick Christian Ponder as the new starting quarterback of the Vikings.

The move has been pushed for many weeks by several NFL and Vikings insiders as Donovan McNabb has struggled for the past six weeks to complete his passes and sustain any kind of rhythm on offense.

In addition to McNabb’s struggles, the only consistent parts of the Vikings offense, to date, have been Adrian Peterson’s running, Percy Harvin, Devin Aromashodu and Kyle Rudolph’s big play potential, Michael Jenkins’s catching and Jim Kleinsasser’s blocking. So far this has only been enough to win against Arizona: A game where it may be argued that the defense actually won the game while the offense simply did not lose the game as it did in the first three games of the season.

However, if Ponder plays as well against Green Bay on Sunday as he did in ‘clean-up duty’ against Chicago, the Vikings offense may finally start to look like the well-oiled machine that offensive co-ordinator Bill Musgrave saw flashes of in the pre-season, especially against Seattle and Houston.

Ponder showed quick rhythm and excellent pocket awareness against a ferocious Bears pass rush and at times brought back memories of the two great scrambling quarterbacks of Vikings’ history, namely Fran Tarkenton and Daunte Culpepper. His passes were on target when they could be, and out of the reach of defenders when they could not be. Plus, he seemed to bring a sense of direction to an offense that has been severely stumbling since the regular season began.

Finally, if Ponder’s play helps improve the Vikings’ play, it may influence the state legislature’s battle over a new stadium which is due to start next month as lawmakers fight to keep the team in Minnesota.

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