We interrupt this sweaty North Carolina baseball road trip -- and we are in the car right now, traveling from blistering Charlotte to boiling Greensboro -- to bring you a quick Donovan McNabb Meltdown featuring Drew Magary. Good ol' Drew -- longtime friend of the blog and Vikings fan -- e-mailed this morning suggesting this Meltdown needed to happen. We agreed. So here is the banter between the two of us over the possibility that the Vikings are going to get McNabb after years of speculation: -----------

RandBall: I'm surprised at the timing because McNabb always felt like a solution that was meant to last longer than just a single season. The Vikings drafted Christian Ponder, and you have to imagine he is itching to be the starter at least by 2012 – and will probably be deserving of that chance. While it's not unprecedented for a guy to ride the bench for longer than that after being taken in the first round – Aaron Rodgers sat for three years behind Favre, for example – there is a lot of money tied up in him. It also feels like McNabb is a step in the old direction of stopgaps instead of turning the page on a new era of building a QB of the future from the start under Frazier. That said, the move would certainly give Frazier an easier first year. McNabb is a credible QB – more than that, if he has redemption on his mind.

Drew: I really think the Vikings don't view this as a two-year thing. IF they're lucky, they get a good year out of McNabb. Most likely, they know they'll use him as a stopgap until Week 6 or 7, when Ponder is set to go. Or they make him Ponder's backup right from the start. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that were the case.

RB: The price is right. That doesn't bother me at all.

DM: I don't think it's that bad, provided his new deal is miniscule. They needed someone to come in while Ponder figured out the playbook. And I;'d rather have angry McNabb over Thigpen or Dr. B. Out track record for rehabilitating old and [redacted] QBs is quite illustrious.

RB: If not for the lockout, is this happening? If Ponder has the full amount of time for mini-camps, etc., is he the starter from Day 1? At the very least, the chances are better. The Vikings were one of the teams most impacted by that stupid lockout. I can't help but think how different the past two years would have been if the Vikings had been able to acquire McNabb instead of Favre before the 2009 season.

DM: I would have liked Orton more as a temp starter in 2011, but that's the way it goes. McNabb got killed by his line last year, and his skill players were atrocious. He SUCKED, to be certain. But he wasn't the sole reason the Skins were so awful.

RB: So does this potentially give the Vikings the ceiling of a playoff team? Is 10 wins the outer limit?

DM: I doubt we're a playoff team either way. The rest of the division is too good now.