Donovan McNabb Benched: Vikings QB's Mother Leaves, Christian Ponder Starts 2nd Half Against Bears (VIDEO)

With the Minnesota Vikings trailing the Chicago Bears, 36-10, in the final five minutes of the third quarter, Bears defensive end Israel Idonije ran down Donovan McNabb for a 10-yard sack on 3rd and long. The punt team ran onto the field as McNabb slowly walked back to the sideline. Meanwhile, his mother left her seat and slowly walked up the steps toward the concourse.

"She has seen enough," commented NBC broadcaster Chris Collinsworth.

Although McNabb completed 19 of his 24 pass attempts, he totaled just 177 yards. Receiving poor protection from his offensive line, he was knocked around and sacked five times in three quarters. He didn't receive much help from the running game, either, as Vikes All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson ran for a mere 39 yards. To compound the issue, the Bears just kept putting points on the board. Jay Cutler threw two touchdown passes in the first half, and Devin Hester returned a kickoff for a touchdown as Chicago took a commanding 26-point lead into the fourth quarter.

The Bears would tack on three more points early in the final quarter. From that point on, McNabb watched the game from the sideline, a view that has been increasingly familiar for the six-time Pro Bowler. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier replaced McNabb with rookie Chrisitian Ponder, who finished 9 of 17 for 99 yards and no touchdowns. Despite flashing some of the skills that made him a first-round draft pick, no comeback materialized and the Bears won 39-10.

Last year, McNabb lasted as the starter with the Washington Redskins through Week 8 before getting pulled in a loss to the Detroit Lions just before the two-minute warning. Coach Mike Shanahan explained after the game, in which McNabb's replacement Rex Grossman failed to bring the Redskins back, that he thought the backup gave the team the best chance to win. A day after the loss, Shanahan said McNabb wasn't in good enough shape to run the two-minute offense.

Despite getting pulled from that game, McNabb remained the Redskins' starter until Week 15 when Shanahan officially replaced him with Grossman.

In 2008, Eagles coach Andy Reid benched McNabb during a poor performance against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 12. Reid pulled McNabb at the half even though the Eagles were only down 10-7. McNabb ended up starting the rest of that season, leading Philadelphia to the NFC Championship game.

After Sunday night's blowout loss to the Bears, Frazier said he has not decided on who will be the starter when Minnesota hosts Green Bay next week.

"We have to sit down on Monday and talk about a lot of things. We need to decide on that direction we want to go," he said.

As for McNabb, the 34-year-old believes he will play against the Packers.

"I guess we'll sit down and talk but I expect to be in there next week," he said.

McNabb has struggled greatly through Minnesota's 1-5 start, only throwing for 1,026 yards (26th in the league) and four touchdowns (tied for 27th). He has also taken a beating, getting sacked 16 times so far (tied for 4th) and hurried several other times.

Minnesota was supposed to be another fresh start for McNabb after spending 11 years in Philadelphia and one drama-filled season in D.C., but yesterday's story is becoming quite familiar.

McNabb gets a fresh start. McNabb struggles but doesn't play horribly. McNabb gets pulled. McNabb eventually gets benched.

But is this the last time we'll hear this one?

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated at one point that the Vikings won the game, but the victory went to the Bears.

Comments

[ocalasatpro]

08:48 AM on 10/20/2011

Don't worry, everybody. It's just the curse of "taking in ol' #4" haunting the Vikings. Call it a sweet combination of payback and karma. Yum...

Sorry, Vikes. You are commanded to start Donovan all season. Or at least this Sunday.

[foneric]

05:22 PM on 10/19/2011

McNabb has been done for years. He was always overrated, in my opinion.

[Sol Rosenberg]

02:02 PM on 10/19/2011

This scapegoating of McNabb is stupid and unjustified. He is surrounded by a subpar team. Blaming him is way off base.

[sir douglas walton reid]

10:16 AM on 10/19/2011

Fear the Spear!! >->-------->>

[Jacobeli Behar]

11:21 AM on 10/19/2011

cp7 for sureeeee
although hes not going to get a lot of love in this situation, that whole team is falling apart. They never really got behing donavan but cp7 is a natural leader and hell take this team to the playoffs eventually

[chronic]

05:00 AM on 10/19/2011

Where his line men???

[Omeezee]

08:09 PM on 10/18/2011

Amazing that Adrian Petersen had 39 yards total and is the highest paid running back in the NFL, McNabb was sacked 5 times, the receivers dropped a bunch of passes and the defense gave up 36 points. And the only question being asked is if this is the end for Mcnabb? It should be the end for the General Manager for sure. Why get McNabb and not pick up any wideouts for him to throw too? Or better yet, an offensive line to protect him? Same with Rex Grossman in Washington. It seems that the NFL has people it will give 4th 5th, and 6th chances to (Alex Smith in Sanfran, Mark Sanchez of the Jets, Jay Cutler in Chicago), I mean year after year of failure, and then it has people it throws under the bus each chance it gets. McNabb took a team to the Superbowl and outside of Desean jackson, never had a probowl receiver for over a year. Now they through a rookie in halfway through the season, against the defending Superbowl champs who haven't lost a game. McNabb may be past his prime, but the Vikings GM and management caused this mess.

[Gigity]

06:07 PM on 10/18/2011

Ponder's a better choice. Hopefully they'll bench McNabb now and move on to the guy that's the future of the team. He's also faster and more elusive than McNabb and probably won't skip passes off the turf like Donovan does now.

[Omeezee]

08:10 PM on 10/18/2011

That still will not help him form being sacked if his o-line sucks (hello Michael Vick) nor help a defense that gave up 30 plus points.

[Gigity]

10:49 PM on 10/18/2011

But it gets the kid time to learn on the job. Mcnabb is no one's present or future. Gotta go with the kid, who did a great job eluding the pressure the other day. Let's see how he handles it from snap 1 though.

[Dr Confuso]

05:53 PM on 10/18/2011

The fact that he still has a job is indicative of the dearth of quality quarterbacks out there. Teams are so desperate, they're willing to re-cycle players whose shelf life was up years ago, in the never ending hope of catching lightning in a bottle....1 more time. Give it up people and put in some of the young guys (I'm lookin at you Denver!).

[GonzoLoungeLizard]

11:19 AM on 10/18/2011

Donovan's done. He's been done since the Eagles-Cowboys playoff game a few years back. The game has passed him by. He was a top-5 QB from 2001-2004 but those years are long gone. You can't be an effective QB in today's NFL with a completion percentage under 60%. He was able to get around that for so long because his legs saved him. Once his legs went down, so did his career.

[tanya11111]

08:05 AM on 10/18/2011

that front line is offensive alright... but not in a good way.

[loco48]

06:50 AM on 10/18/2011

These top tier players never want to admit that they are past their prime. Why teams sign over the hill players and expect them to take the team to the super bowl is beyond me. If you are going to lose lose with younger players who have a chance the learn. This has never worked since the beginning of the NFL. Namath to the rams. Montana to the chiefs. Cunningham to the (forget the team) Farve to the jets ,vikings and those teams did not win.

[GonzoLoungeLizard]

11:22 AM on 10/18/2011

Montana took Chiefs to AFC Championship game. Favre took Minnesota to NFC Championship game. Randall took Minnesota to NFC Championship game. That's pretty damn close to the Super Bowl. Alot closer than some rookie would have gotten them. Cripes, Randall was a chip shot field goal away from going to the Super Bowl.

[loco48]

11:29 AM on 10/18/2011

Not close enough and they were done after that. Not knocking these great players because I am a fan. What happened then. Vikings done this year. Chiefs done after that year and then on. Only green bay recovered after Farve and Rogers may turn out better than farve, but time will tell.

[Y2KCockroach]

02:45 AM on 10/18/2011

Last night was not McNabb's fault. Not by any measure. His numbers were not great, but they weren't bad either, considering that he was running for his life on most every play. He was 19/24 for Gawd's sake, and he had two passes dropped for no reason by his receivers.

This is just a really bad football team. It has poor personnel (even most of the "stars" are in their waning years). They are poorly coached (those three blown leads were from a failure to anticipate adjustments at half-time). The season was over two weeks ago, and last night most of them played like they knew it. Finally, there is no "playing for pride" on this team; they stink, and they know it. There are a few guys playing for their jobs, but that is about the extent of it.

The Vikings are well on the way to becoming the "Cincinnati Bengals" of this decade. They can throw Ponder in there but the results aren't going to be much different...

[Monkedelic]

04:18 AM on 10/18/2011

I'm a Vikes fan and I'll agree with some of what you've said. True, there are problems on this team beyond McNabb and you certainly can't blame it all on him. That said-- his accuracy has been downright awful even in situations where he's had time. With little or no passing threat, even AP (the greatest RB in the game) is hung out to dry.

As for: "Finally, there is no "playing for pride" on this team; they stink, and they know it. There are a few guys playing for their jobs, but that is about the extent of it." That's complete BS. And I disagree about how the results won't be much different with Ponder. Hopefully we get a chance to see vs GB.

[opprobrious]

12:35 AM on 10/18/2011

I have nothing bad to say about McNabb, which is to say I wish him well. He was great in his prime. As a Packer fan I will never forget 4th and 26 as long as I live.

[Tibby Oct31]

12:20 AM on 10/18/2011

I've always wished him real success, but it never fully develops. I think he was thrown under the bus, and now he's expected to crawl out all by himself. He's always seemed like a class act and wish him well.

Now after being honestly graceful, suck it up and play like Ben Roethlisberger who has NO O-line and half crippled almost every season, or retire.

[RobJames]

11:25 PM on 10/17/2011

He will be rewarded with a commentating job when he retires. He isn't the same Mcnabb from 8 years ago and all the bs he has dealt with over the years has always been handled with grace. This will be his last season as a starter.