Pondering a Quarterback Change

I've watched a lot of football in my years on this planet. I have never seen anything like what the Vikings have done over the last three weeks.

In blowing 17-7, 17-0, and 20-0 halftime leads to go 0-3, the Vikings have created a fanbase so incredibly angry and frustrated that nothing they do now will make it better.

Minnesota is in a hell of a spot, with two NFC North teams at 3-0. They've blown two extremely winnable home games, and now there is a decision this organization has to make. Now.

There is a common thread in each loss, and it's the inadequacies of the quarterback. Donovan McNabb is just too inaccurate and too conservative to run this offense. The Vikings don't have the weapons or the defense to put up with a quarterback who isn't good enough.

It's time for a change.

McNabb has done what he can. He isn't as good as he used to be, and he was never really a game-breaking quarterback who could take over games by himself. What McNabb could do well is lead an offense that is keyed by the running game, chipping in the occasional deep throw and rollout pass play. The Vikings asked him to do that this year, and he's failing miserably, because his not-really-all-that-great accuracy has dwindled in recent years. It's at a point now where he can no longer be considered the best option for this team going forward.

A huge part of this team's second-half problems is the play of McNabb, who missed on a number of key throws Sunday. The biggest was an overthrow of Bernard Berrian on a play right before the Vikings tied the score to force overtime. Berrian beat one-on-one coverage, and a good throw wins the game for the Vikings. Instead, McNabb gave his receiver zero chance to make a play, and in came Ryan Longwell for the three points.

Blame the defense for not getting off the field, or for letting Calvin Johnson make a couple huge plays. Blame Toby Gerhart for not getting a first down on fourth and short. Or blame Bill Musgrave for not calling a play for Adrian Peterson in that situation. But looking at these three games, McNabb and his scattershot play has to be considered the common thread.

Now, the Vikings need to turn to Christian Ponder. It seems early, but this season is virtually dead already, so there is little point in sticking with McNabb and not figuring out what Ponder can do at this level.

The Vikings haven't developed a star NFL quarterback in a lot of years. We don't know if Ponder can be that kind of guy, but we know McNabb is no longer capable. I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that Joe Webb won't be that kind of player, either. He's more of a bit guy who can step in occasionally, but isn't a 16-game kind of player.

The organization drafted Ponder to take over and be a franchise quarterback. With the team off to an 0-3 start, it might as well see what he can do. He can't be worse than McNabb.

Cris Carter Tries to Take Back Mind-Numbing Thoughts on Calvin Johnson

Last week, ESPN's Cris Carter made some waves by saying something really dumb.

I suspect this will become the norm at ESPN, if it hasn't already. The network has tried so hard to hire a large stable of former players and coaches to analyze the NFL that those hired can't possibly have their own voice or their own personality. There's no room to breathe with such a population of analysts ... no opportunity for one of them to step out and become a reliable voice of reason or source of interesting takes.

They're all the same, just like ESPN probably wants.

For Carter, Friday presented an opportunity to step out and say something interesting. It was a chance for him to take a stand and stake his claim to a larger audience.

He tried. And failed.

On ESPN Radio, he was asked about the top five receivers in the NFL. He failed to put Calvin Johnson on that list.

“Calvin Johnson, he’s very, very good at Madden and Tecmo Bowl or whatever they’re playing now,” Carter said. “But on film, when I watch film, and I break down the film, he’s not to the point of these guys yet.”

ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg pointed out that Johnson has played with lousy quarterbacks, but Carter wasn’t buying it.

“I made eight Pro Bowls,” Carter said. “I made it with five different quarterbacks. They weren’t always great. So I don’t want to hear the excuse that I’m not playing with a great quarterback.”

Face, meet palm.

I'll set aside the fact that he took a veiled shot at the quarterbacks he played with in the NFL.

Instead, let's focus on the lunacy that is his comment on Calvin Johnson. If he's only good on video games, why did the Jets and Packers -- among others -- routinely double him last year, even though both teams had elite players in their secondaries?

Sorry, Cris, but they weren't doubling him just because they could. They also weren't trying to confuse whoever Detroit had at quarterback. They did it because Calvin Johnson -- as he has shown time and time again -- is good enough to beat you, even when you do double-team him.

Monday, Carter saw the error of his ways. Sort of.

On Monday’s edition of ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning, the show on which Carter uttered his controversial comments, the two Mikes talked about the reaction to Carter’s opinion, with pretty much everyone who has weighed in taking the position that Carter was flat wrong.  They capped the discussion by pointing out that Carter had called the studio with this message regarding Johnson: “[H]e’s right there with the top five.  I may have given Reggie Wayne a gift.”

In other words, Carter apparently opted not to admit in real time that he had inadvertently overlooked Johnson, choosing instead to stubbornly support an inherently flawed argument.  Three days later, with no way out of the maze, Carter issued a mea culpa which the two Mikes laughed off as they went to a break.

I guess this is the closest thing we'll get to a "correction" out of the Worldwide Leader.

Packers Somehow 3-1 Despite Disarray

Sometimes, what we see in the end defies logic.

The end result Sunday makes no sense. After all, the Packers were dead and buried, had they been playing anyone but the horrifically snakebit Lions.

When the chips were down, the Lions couldn't avoid a back-breaking penalty, couldn't buy a call on Charles Woodson when many a player would have drawn one, and couldn't get the ball back.

It's sad in a way for Detroit. This is a franchise full of hard-working people, trying like crazy to erase the franchise's long-standing reputation as a laughingstock. There are many dedicated Lions fans who don't even bother getting their hopes up anymore.

And why should they? They're one road loss away from tying their own franchise record. They haven't won a game in Green Bay since back when people actually liked Bill Clinton. They are 0-4 after going 2-14, and they went 0-16 before that. That's 2-34 over 36 games.

Sunday, the Lions thoroughly outplayed the Packers, something that doesn't happen often, especially in Green Bay. Sunday was the first time since 2006 that they kept their margin of defeat in Green Bay under ten points.

They've made some progress this year, but as coach Jim Schwartz said after the game, they have to find a way to get "over the hump."

Meanwhile, the Packers sit at quite the uneasy 3-1.

It's uneasy because the Packers have yet to play anything remotely resembling a complete game. One-fourth of the season is complete, and the Packers have the following marks on their record:

• No-showed most of the second half at Philadelphia. It was excused in part because of an injury necessitating a quarterback change for the Eagles, and Michael Vick is a bit better different compared to Kevin Kolb.
• Got outplayed like crazy in the second quarter of the home opener against Buffalo, leaving the paying customers nervous at halftime. Stomped on the Bills in the second half, winning the game easily in the end.
• Something about 18 penalties and a slew of dumb mistakes in that loss to the Bears. The second-half performance was one for the ages, and not in a good way.
• The pass defense took the game off against Detroit, allowing something called Shaun Hill to throw for 331 yards, run for 53 more, and nearly engineer what has to be called a huge upset. When the Packers blitzed, they got burned in man coverage. When the Packers didn't blitz, they didn't get enough pressure to rattle Hill, and their zones were useless against Detroit.

Obviously, the Packers have a few things they need to fix. Head coach Mike McCarthy has to find a way to make some fixes on both sides of the ball.

Frankly, the Packers look out of synch right now. They can't seem to get in a rhythm on either side of the ball for more than a quarter at a time. This team is good enough to win games like this, but it does leave them with a lot of work to do in the last three-fourths of the season.

It's far from lost at this point. There's a lot of football to be played, and this isn't 2006, when McCarthy was somehow able to coerce eight wins out of a pretty average football team. There's talent, and help is coming when Al Harris and Atari Bigby come off the PUP list in a few weeks (we hope/think). That adds much-needed depth to the secondary, perhaps allowing guys like Morgan Burnett, Derrick Martin, and Jarrett Bush to play a lot less, even when Dom Capers wants to use his nickel defense.

They're on the road to Washington next week. The Redskins aren't overwhelming anyone with their passing game these days, but they might try to get that part of their offense well next week against a struggling Packer secondary. Of course, Capers has to cringe at the thought of Donovan McNabb running against the Packers, given what Jay Cutler and Hill have done with scrambles the last two weeks.

At some point in the next month, expect the Packers to hit their stride. The fans hope so, because while everyone and their mother had the Packers in the Super Bowl before the season started, they've yet to show anything remotely resembling that form. The NFC North race is far from over, because no one in the division is good enough to run roughshod, but the Packers can ill afford to continue playing like they have. The schedule is just beginning to get tough.

Albert Haynesworth's Former Coach Wants Nothing to do With Him

The Detroit Lions had a pretty terrible defense last season. And the year before. And the year before.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Coach Jim Schwartz is trying to remake that terrible defense. As part of that, the Lions signed Kyle Vanden Bosch as a free agent, traded for former Packers tackle Corey Williams, and drafted Nebraska star Ndamukong Suh No. 2 overall.

Apparently, Schwartz and general manager Martin Mayhew aren't that desperate to rebuild quickly.

Former Schwartz protege Albert Haynesworth is a defensive tackle for the Washington Redskins. The big man isn't happy, because new Washington coach Mike Shanahan wants to switch to a 3-4 defense, something he is unfamiliar with. So, despite $30 million or so in guaranteed money paid out since last spring, Haynesworth wants out of D.C.

His destination will not be Detroit, despite the success he and Schwartz had when they worked together in Tennessee.

The Lions had internally discussed trading for Haynesworth before April's draft, but that's not an option now after the team used its first-round pick on defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Lions general manager Martin Mayhew has serious concerns about the kind of influence that Haynesworth could become, according to the source.

"Even though Suh is his own man, we don't want any negative influences around him," the source said.

Suh is a future star for Detroit. That future may come quickly, as he's expected to make an impact for the Lions almost immediately.

It's nice to see an organization doing their due diligence on a player, even when that player may be familiar and have positive memories with the head coach. There's no reason for a rebuilding team like Detroit to take on Haynesworth's baggage, attitude, and contract.

This is especially true when a young guy like Suh comes along, who appears to have none of those issues. Take advantage of his ability and attitude while you can.