Categories: 1.3 Opinion 3.2 Rumors Speculation
| On 11 years ago

Ponder reportedly on a short leash: Is anybody really surprised?

By Nam Huynh

After an ugly performance in Week 1’s 34-24 loss against the Lions, Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder may see himself on the bench if he doesn’t improve soon.

Like—very, very soon.

According to Jay Glazer of FOX Sports, Ponder is on a short leash as the team’s starting quarterback.

“He’s on a much shorter leash than anybody has any idea about,” Glazer reported on the FOX NFL Sunday show. “Matt Cassel is in there doing all the right things. I think fans look at it and say this is Ponder’s team. No.

“From a lot of what I’m hearing inside that locker room, he’s on a much shorter leash than anybody has any idea about.”

Entering his third year as the starter, Ponder has 32 touchdowns and 36 turnovers (28 interceptions and 8 fumble losses) in that span.

Nam Huynh

Tags: christian ponder

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    • 2nd and goal with 3 minutes left....and you PASS IT!?

      Game over at that point. Run Peterson 3 times, worst cast scenario they have a little over two minutes left and 98 yards to beat you. Fire his arse.

  • Nice job Cook. I thought you said, " Let me cover them", when refering to Marshall and Johnson. Nice job, loser. Cook sucks. They had the game right there and they don't score a touch down. We all knew it was over right then, Can't wait to hear Fraziers BS. Wheres that cannon leg, Blairwitch? Hester killed us, too. Nice pick 6 Ponder. He actually was better. It's on the coaches and Cook.

  • freds said it best.....playing "not to lose" is what we've been watching for waaaaaaay too many years....it's no easier now than with green.....and Ponder through it over rudolph's head on the biggest play of the game....innaccurate with game on the line.....then with 3rd and goal and 4th and goal you crawl into a hole and play denny-ball.....and I don't care about forcing them to take a time out....it's still defensive instead of offensive.....ponder, musgrave and frazier.......may you choke on this game.....what the heck, I'll throw spielman into that mix too....they are all below average in today's nfl.....

  • it hurt to lose this game at the end like that, but taking the FG to make it 30-24 was the right call because then they gotta get a TD, if not, an easier bear's FG would've been able to tie it up. i hate that the nfl plays this 'prevent defense' stuff, that's kind of a misnomer, preventing the big play and giving them lots of smaller ones that give it to them anyways. the team played better than last week and ponder played better, that is encouraging, however, we know he can, he just has to be consistently good. we should win our next two games, but this is not a good two game start at 0-2

    alone at last

    • Sorry Cal, running the ball on 3rd and goal from the six from a power run formation when a TD guarantees you a win is the definition of playing not to lose and was a total BS call, and it's exasperated by the decision to throw the ball on 2nd down. If your going to run it to kill the clock then you run it three straight times. If your going to play to score a TD then you don't line up on third down in a stacked formation and hand the ball off from the 6. I wouldn't have a problem with them running the ball there if they made it look like they were going to throw by spacing everyone out with the formation on what was a passing down. That whole sequence to me was just what I've come to expect as classic Musgrave not knowing what he really wants to do. In any case, ton of blame to be passed around yet again. Defense allowed another 400+ yards and special teams coverage was terrible, Blair can't kick the ball out of the endzone with a poor footing on a wet field. Peterson's -13 yard run was one of the dumbest plays I've ever seen from him, but dusche of the game award goes to Carlson for his riveting 5 yard kick return fumble that killed the remaining ten seconds of the game. My TV area immediately went out to the Buffala/Carolina game where a defensive lineman properly fielded the same swib kick and took a knee allowing his offense one play. Had Carlson done that Ponder would have had a chance to fire the ball 20 or so yards down the field and call a timeout to set up a potentially game-winning field goal. Sad thing is they made a lot of improvements today and end up with a gut-wrenching loss. Man this is shaping up to be a long season.

      • i agree. i think you misread what i wrote. i'm saying that taking the FG was the right choice on 4th down, instead of going for a TD there (i think that idea came from the in-game chat). the plays before that, as you and others point out, were questionable to say the least

        • Ahhh, that does make more sense and I would concur that that going for it would have been a bad decision.

  • Cals,

    I didn't read anyone saying they should have gone for a td on 4th down during the in game chat. Freds comment was the lack of guts on the 3rd and goal. Exactly Dan's point above.

  • Hindsight is 20/20. Bottom line here is the defense was handed what it needed for a win and they let it get away. The rest is all conjecture. Fact is, AD has scored a lot of TDs from five yards out. Give it to the league MVP or kick a fg to go up by 6. Fine with me.

    As far as Jay Glazer ...whatever.

  • I wasn't there for the chat, but count me down for those who think we should've went for it on 4th. Absolutely. This team has a recent history of meltdowns. They hit that field goal, up by 6 with over 2 minutes left, who didn't assume we'd lose by one?

    This team needs to show some guts, some balls, some moxie, some pluck. Call it what you want, but this team has no swagger at all. No creativity, no real identity outside of Peterson (and that is quickly losing it's luster). With the talent this team DOES have, that's crap. They can take their conservative play calling and shove it up their Musgrave, I says. You want it, take it. If not, play scared and conservative. How's that working for you?

    Personally, I'm sick of playing not to lose. Show. Some. Balls.

    • By the way, that goes for the defense. Stunt. Blitz. Lots of succesful teams do it. Go ahead, give it a whirl, see what happens.

    • ...and if 4th down fails, you're there to say it's OK we're only up three rather than 6? No, I'm not buying that for one minute.

      • Well, it's not for sale. Only for rent, cuz I need it back. That kind of animosity doesn't just grow on trees you know.

        In any case, I absolutely condone going for it. Granted, if they did go for it, they would've probably sent Garhart up the gut or something equally inane, and that would've pissed me off. However, if they did miss, then the Bears had a LOT of real estate to cover, and we wouldn't have had to endure our horrid special teams coverage one last time. At that point, the Bears would've been playing for a field goal, and hoping for a TD. I think they would've ended up with the FG and forced overtime, instead of taking a last second win. Just Tomb's gut feel on the ebb and flow of the game.

  • I'm just glad I wasn't drinking today because I would be looking for a new tv tonight. Yeah I wish the coachs could come up with some better strategies. They seem to be stuck in their ways and unwilling to try anything different.