Christian Ponder is starting with the man in the mirror. The Minnesota Vikings have announced the official firing of head coach Leslie Frazier and the quarterback believes he is the one to blame. In his departing press conference, Frazier noted the team needs to fix their quarterback problems and Ponder says it all starts with him.
Ponder was drafted back in 2011 as the No. 12 pick overall. Many had believed that he would become the new franchise quarterback for the Vikings, something that has yet to happen. As a result, the team record has suffered and Frazier was left to take blame. In his press conference, he made some very strong remarks regarding the issues at the position.
"It's a quarterback-driven league and if you don't have that position functioning the way you need to, I don't care what you need to do in the other areas of your team, you're going to be fighting uphill," Frazier said, via Minnesota Star-Tribune. "I've done everything I can do in my tenure here as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. I just know in our league you need to get that quarterback position fixed."
Ponder is not shying away from accepting blame for the team's shortcomings. The quarterback missed time for injuries, but also missed time because he was simply struggling. Both Matt Cassel and Josh Freeman tried their hands at the position, but neither generated much more success.
"It was definitely an interesting year," Ponder said. "And not the way that I thought it would play out or probably anyone wanted it to play out. So with my job, I didn't play well enough to keep the job and for us to win as many games as we should have. So it stinks knowing that was a contribution to what happened."
Ponder is aware that his time in Minnesota could be up. The quarterback has one year remaining on his current contract. Currently, Matt Cassel sits ahead of him on the depth chart. The quarterback admits he would not be shocked if the team decided to clean house, draft a rookie and start over completely. He will be meeting with general manager Rick Spielman to discuss his situation, but a release seems likely.
Ponder is hoping for another quarterback competition, but between he and Cassel. The current starter signed a two-year contract and could opt out after this year, but he has expressed desire to stick around. Ponder is hoping both players get the chance to stay.
"I think there could be a lot of competition there, which is good for both of us," Ponder said. "But I think I would expect that once a decision is made it will be probably to stick with that guy and not have what happened this year. Matt's done well and obviously he's been the starter the past few weeks. And he'll probably be named the starter going into the offseason if he opts in or they opt in. We have a good relationship."
