Minnesota Vikings at a Crossroads?

Last Sunday I was at the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers game. I was very interested in seeing Christian Ponder play in person for the first time. What I saw leaves me with more questions then answers.

Coming into this season experts had the Vikings winning anywhere from 4-to-6 games. Well as we speak now the Vikings have six wins, and they might end up going 6-10, which is not bad for a "rebuilding" year, but in the eyes of the fans it is a disappointment.

The Vikings started off hot, winning four-out-of-five, and since then have only won only two games, and losing five to drop their record to 6-6. Getting back to last weeks game, if the Vikings were really serious about the playoffs this season, they should have brought in quarterback Joe Webb, because Ponder was ruining the Vikings playoff chances.

The Vikings entered the second half with the lead, and the ball. The best running back in the National Football League just got you into the red-zone. What does Ponder do? Acts like he is running out of bounds, but then decides to throw across his body, and the ball landed right in the hands of a Packer defender. I won't even mention the play calling in that situation, which was horrible, Adrian Peterson could not be contained, just give him the ball!

Ponders inability to move the ball down field is crippling this team. Ponder on Sunday

averaged 4.8 yards per completion, Peterson was averaging 10 yards per carry. Even when receivers were open Ponder either skipped the pass there, or air mailed it to the receiver.

Coming into this season I wanted to know two things. One- is Ponder the Answer? Two- Is Leslie Frazier going to be good head coach?

Lets start with Ponder first. In the first five weeks Ponder looked great. He was the last quarterback to throw an interception in the league, he could manage a football game, and he was setting up our offense for success. However, now he is holding back this team. If you look at Ponder stats for this season, you would see six games were he throws for less then two hundred yards, and there have been two games were he doesn't even break a hundred yards.

We can safely make the assumption that Ponder will never be Aaron Rodgers, or Tom Brady. Ponder lacks that big arm that this team desperately needs. He can not tell when the pocket is collapsing, and when that happens he fails to make a smart read. Instead of being a pro-bowl quarterback, Ponder needs to become a "game manager".

Now to my second question, is Leslie Frazier going to be a good coach? I will say this he is a great defensive coach. Our defense has vastly improved, but our offense well that is where he lacks. By not pulling Ponder on Sunday shows that he cannot see how bad Ponder has been playing. By allowing Ponder to play this coming Sunday might have him lose the locker-room, and by keeping Bill Musgrave as your offensive coordinator shows everyone he likes how the offense is running, or isn't running.

I am not calling for Frazier job, or am I saying fire the whole staff, what I am trying to say is this; Frazier just threw away the 2012 season last Sunday, by allowing Ponder to stay in the game. I understand that this season was to evaluate Ponder, but in the NFL you never know when you will have a chance at the playoffs, and if history can tell us anything, it would say just barley getting into the playoffs means you are a championship contender, just look at the 2010 Green Bay Packers, and the 2011 New York Giants.

Even though there is a slight glimmer of hope for the Vikings to perhaps making the playoffs this season, it is time to start looking forward to next season. Starting Joe Webb might win a few games this season, and could rally this team together to make a run at the playoffs, but being realistic we need to keep Ponder in the game, why? There is four games left, we need to see if there is any hope in Ponder improving his skills, if not then we might have to look for a free agent, Alex Smith? or drafting a quarterback.

The Vikings need to reevaluate everyone even the coaching staff, and see if they need to

go into a different route. Even if Ponder does regress more, it would be more realistic to see the Vikings go in a different route with a coach, then giving up completely on Ponder.

The Vikings hot start got all Vikings fans across Minnesota excited, but reality sunk in the past two weeks, and that is this team is still a few years away from contending, and might need a new quarterback, and or coach in order to reach that next level.