Loss can't dim Ponder's aspirations

Christian Ponder talks as though he's in danger of losing his penthouse view as the Vikings' undisputed quarterback of the future.

Perhaps he is.

With the rookie floundering down the stretch and the Vikings moving a game closer to the No. 1 overall draft pick, Vikings coach Leslie Frazier hesitated when asked whether he's still certain that Ponder is the team's long-term solution at the game's most important position.

Instead of expressing blind faith in the 12th overall draft pick, Frazier talked about evaluating Ponder's entire body of work from 2011.

"We have two games left, so I want to continue to watch him play and understand that we still have to get some pieces around him," Frazier said after Sunday's 42-20 loss to New Orleans at Mall of America Field.

A week after being benched in the third quarter at Detroit, Ponder played a listless, inconsistent, accuracy-challenged game while completing only 14 of 31 passes (45.2 percent) for 120 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a 63.9 passer rating. In the past two games, he has completed 48.1 percent of his passes.

Sunday, he talked about the importance finishing strong against the Redskins in Washington on Saturday and the Bears the following week at home.

Ponder also expressed a new goal. And, boy, it's a doozy.

He said he wants to be better than Saints quarterback Drew Brees one day. Yep, the same Brees who completed 80 percent of his passes (32 of 40) and is now completing 71.5 percent on the season as he threatens to break his own NFL record of 70.6 percent. The same Brees who threw for 412 yards and five touchdowns, with no interceptions and a 149.2 passer rating. The same Brees who has an NFL record 11 games of 300 yards or more passing this season and needs 305 yards over the next two games to break Dan Marino's single-season record of 5,084 set in 1984.

"For me, it's motivation," Ponder said. "I always want to be the best guy on the field. I think Drew is a heck of a quarterback and one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I want to be better than him one day, obviously. I'll use that as motivation to keep getting better and prove one day that I'll be in his spot, winning games and going to the playoffs."

Sunday's game could have been much different had Ponder and the Vikings offense taken advantage of two Saints turnovers in the first 16 minutes. Despite getting the ball at the New Orleans 26- and 21-yard lines, the Vikings came away with only two field goals.

"Being a quarterback in the NFL obviously was a job I looked forward to," Ponder said. "I realized we were going to have ups and downs, especially in my rookie year. You live for the ups, obviously, and you learn from the downs.