Kriens: We're at Spergon Wynn levels now

Publisher's Note: Earlier today, I wrote a piece on Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder. Friend of the blog Travis Kriens has put together a counterargument for why Ponder should grab some bench in favor of Joe Webb. 

I have never seen a quarterback play as bad over an extended period of time as Christian Ponder has.

The bench mark for putrid quarterback play for me was Spergon Wynn, third-stringer for the 2001 Minnesota Vikings.

Spergon Wynn's career in one photo.

Forced into service due to injuries to starter Daunte Culpepper and capable backup Todd Bouman, Wynn was never supposed to play. He played the last three games of the season, all losses. His best showing was a 24-for-39 performance for 218 yards and an interception in a 30 point home loss to a Jacksonville team that finished 6-10. He followed that up by throwing three picks to go with his 11-of-30 passing for 114 yards and a touchdown at Green Bay. His final game came against the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens on the road in a Monday night game. Wynn was 13-of-29 with 86 yards and an interception. He never played another snap in the NFL.

I never thought anyone would challenge Wynn for the title of “worst quarterback I have seen,” but after seeing Ponder play the last few weeks, Wynn will have to step down from his throne.

Ponder is dial-up on a field full of players moving at 4G speed.

The examples of his futility are too numerous to list. For starters, let’s look at how well the second-year quarterback does with throws 10 or more yards down the field.

7-of-12 vs. Jacksonville (W)
5-of-8 at Indianapolis (L)
6-of-10 vs. San Francisco (W)
3-of-6 at Detroit (W)
5-of-12 vs. Tennessee (W)
4-of-12 at Washington (L)
1-of-3 vs. Arizona (W)
3-of-11 vs. Tampa Bay (L)
2-of-7 at Seattle (L)
5-of-7 vs. Detroit (W)

0-of-10 at Chicago (L)
2-of-13 at Green Bay (L)


First three games: 18-of-32 (56%)

Last two games: 2-of-23 (8%)

Last six games: 13-of-51 (25%)

There has been a dramatic shift in Ponder’s ability to complete passes down the field over the last two months and when you consider that the Vikings don’t use Percy Harvin as a down-the-field receiver, his absence to the lineup can’t be used as an excuse.

If you want to put some blame on the wide receiver core, that’s fine.  When you long for the days of Bernard Berrian and Bobby Wade, you know something is wrong.

Add the best running back in the league into the mix and it becomes even more astonishing the quarterback play isn’t better.

No quarterback that has started every game for his team this season has thrown for fewer yards.
The Packers defense was missing Sam Shields, Charles Woodson and Clay Mathews on Sunday, yet Ponder threw for under 100 yards, excluding 27 garbage yards in the final 40 seconds. Ponder hasn’t done anything on the field recently to deserve to be starting at quarterback.

I don’t like to blame coaches as much as others. The players make the plays. The coaches call them. It’s up to the coaches to put the players in the best situation and it’s up to the players to execute the play given. Clock management and the use of timeouts are a coaching duty, as well as making the decision of which players to play. If a coach isn’t putting out the best players in order to win, which is the number one goal each week, then that coach isn’t doing his job very well.

Kriens and Traxler agree on one thing: No McLeod Bethel-Thompson

Is Christian Ponder as bad as he has shown in the last two months? No. Is he as good as he showed in the first few games of the season? No. He lies somewhere in the middle, but he has had a lot more days like he did at Green Bay and Chicago than he has versus San Francisco and Jacksonville.

He has started 22 games, been knocked out of three of them and won seven of the games he has completed. He has only one win over a team that finished the season with a winning record.

Only seven players IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL have gone through a season with more attempts (384) with fewer yards (2,305) than Ponder has right now. The only player to do it twice is Joey Harrington. That’s a pretty good career comparison so far.

Joe Webb is the backup. He has had relative success in the few opportunities that he has gotten; a win at a playoff-bound Philadelphia team on the road in 2010, falling just short of leading a 17-point comeback over playoff-bound Detroit on the road in 2011. Webb took over for an injured Ponder in the third quarter and ended his first drive with a 65-yard touchdown run.

For someone that is supposed as accurate as Ponder (59%), Webb isn’t far behind (57.9%). Ponder has completed 50% or fewer of his passes seven times, the same number of games he has won in his career. Webb has played significant time in five games, and has never completed fewer than 52% of his passes, including games of 62% and 65%, both on the road. Ponder has only completed over 62% of his passes on the road in four of 12 chances.

Despite being losers of five of seven, Minnesota are still only a game back of the final Wild Card spot.

The sample size for both is small, less so for Ponder. Remember, one of the duties of a head coach is to put the best possible players out on the field to win each week.

Starting Christian Ponder at quarterback any game the rest of the season doesn’t give the Vikings the best chance to win. I think Leslie Frazier knows this. It’s just that he isn’t doing anything about it.

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Earlier today: Nothing to Ponder

(P.S.: Pretty sure this is the first time in blog history I've had two posts in one day. Cool beans.)