Frazier’s Loyalty to a Fault is Hurting the Vikings
Leading up to Sunday’s game against the Cardinals, Leslie Frazier has made one fact perfectly clear: Donovan McNabb will be the team’s starting quarterback for the foreseeable future.
With the team’s record sitting at 0-4 and the hard part of their schedule still left to play, many fans have been wondering when we will get a chance to see first round draft pick Christian Ponder take the reins at quarterback.
McNabb is not part of the Viking’s future plans, so it would only make sense for Ponder to get the reps for the rest of the season in order to determine if he is indeed the future. But Frazier has remained steady in his support of McNabb, stating several times that while the team has several areas to work on; quarterback play is not the most pressing issue. This is true, but it makes no sense to start a veteran quarterback with declining skill sets instead of a rookie who may be the team’s quarterback for the next 8-10 years.
The biggest reason for this decision can only be the fact that Leslie Frazier is extremely loyal to Donovan McNabb, loyal to a fault in fact.
Frazier and McNabb’s friendship goes back to their days in Philadelphia. When the Vikings had a chance to acquire McNabb from Washington this past offseason, Frazier saw it as a chance to recapture McNabb’s former glory with a team that was just one year removed from the NFC Championship game.
However, McNabb is not the same player he was back in those days.
McNabb was even benched twice in Washington by Mike Shanahan, due to lack of physical conditioning. McNabb used to be a player that was revered for his offseason workouts, but now he is clearly past his prime.
This is exactly why it is time for Ponder to come in and take over.
This team needs to look towards the future and attempt to build around its young nucleus. Frazier needs to come to this realization and put his loyalties and friendships on back burner and do what is right for this team.
After all, if McNabb continues to start and the team continues to lose, how long will Frazier’s job be safe?