Consider this a holding pattern.
Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said this afternoon that he hasn't decided yet whether to name rookie Christian Ponder the starting quarterback for Sunday's home game against Green Bay but will have an answer by Wednesday.
Barely 14 hours after the final gun sounded on his team's embarrassing 39-10 loss in Chicago, a stumble that dropped the team to 1-5, Frazier said he and his coaching staff will take a long, hard look at the quarterback position to determine whether it's time for Ponder to replace Donovan McNabb under center.
Frazier insisted the decision would be made based on "what's best for our team" and also said he had not yet given up on a successful 2011 season. Still, this is the first Monday all season that the starting quarterback position has found its way under such an intense evaluation for Frazier, indicating that change could soon be on the way.
"The determining factor will be who's going to help our football team," Frazier said.
The Vikings coach also said it was important that the Ponder-for-McNabb switch ideally occur just once. In that regard, the team does not want to throw the rookie in too early and later find themselves in a flip-flopping ordeal.
"You don't want to have to do that," Frazier said. "You don't want to be in Week 8 or 9 flip-flopping quarterbacks. So once the decision is made, if we were to decide to go with Christian, you'd like to be able to say that this is the way to go. But you don't want to be, in my mind, going back-and-forth."
In injury news, offensive tackle Phil Loadholt had tendinitis in a knee; and safety Jamarca Sanford and center John Sullivan suffered concussions in Sunday's 39-10 loss to the Bears in Chicago.
