The Minnesota Vikings still are searching for their first win of the season after losing to the previously winless Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. And now the question on everyone's mind is being asked.
Is it time to bench veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb and play rookie Christian Ponder?
"No, no," Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said after Sunday's 22-17 loss. "We are not in a situation where we, I don't think, we would make a quarterback change. We will look at the tape."
On one hand, there's reason to believe Frazier on this (we don't want to accuse him of being a liar). On the other hand, you can sense the lack of conviction just by reading his words.
First, Frazier definitely is full of it when he says his team isn't in a situation to make the switch. Of course it is. The Vikings are 0-4 in the NFC North, which might be the toughest division in the NFL, looking up at the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, an undefeated Detroit Lions team and a playoff-caliber Chicago Bears squad. Nobody likes to throw in the towel after a month, but let's be real about this: The Vikings' playoff hopes are dead.
Second, what will the tape show Frazier this time that it already hasn't in three previous games? It's highly unlikely to reveal some secret to success for next time with McNabb guiding the offense.
This sounds like Frazier giving the requisite answer with all due respect to McNabb -- simple as that.
Frazier is in a situation in which he has nothing to lose, right? It's his first full year as head coach, so his job is safe, and the organization drafted Ponder 12th overall with the belief he'd be the quarterback of the future. With the way things are unfolding, it feels like the future is now in Minnesota.
