It wasn't a good season to be a Vikings fan, and the bad taste of 2011 will follow them into the offseason of uncertainty. 

The stadium is uncertain. Whether or not the team will remain in Minnesota is uncertain. And even their coaching staff is laced with uncertainty. 

On top of all that, Vikings fans have created a quarterback controversy for themselves and those beyond the Minnesota borders. That's a puzzling situation.

Christian Ponder created controversy the instant he became a Viking. Many inside and outside Winter Park felt the Vikings reached way too far for the Florida State standout, and that didn't put Ponder in good graces from the get-go.

But like any fanbase in the NFL, when the going got tough for the starting quarterback (in this case Donovan McNabb), there was an instant cry to see Ponder play. 

But then, something strange happened that seems too bizarre to understand. Ponder did well and then struggled like any rookie does. Instead of attributing this to growing pains, Viking fans cried out for the next guy, Joe Webb. 

It almost seems like a Monty Python sketch where the Eric Idle leads a crowd chanting, "We want the other guy!"

Webb was impressive in his backup appearances, but the fact that this excited Viking fans to the point they now want to dump Ponder is perplexing. 

Maybe it's the cold. I used to live in Minnesota, so I know how harsh it is. But, to suggest that the backup to the backup quarterback should lead your team either says Viking fans don't want to win, or they just don't know about football. 

Then again, Webb came in when the team was already in the pits, and losing does incredible things to people's common sense. However, there haven't been any good reasons given for Webb—a guy who hasn't started a football game he hasn't tanked in—to start over Ponder—the first-round pick who came into the year without OTAs or an offseason to study with coaches. 

If Vikings fans want to give up on Ponder and give the reins to Tarvaris Jackson 2.0, then more power to them. Ponder can then move on to another team that will develop him properly, and he'll win there. In the meantime, the Vikings can fail with Webb and then go back to their drug-addict-like habit of calling in veterans past their prime as a Band-Aid solution. 

Ponder needs to be given at least two more seasons to prove his worth because it is there. Ponder had no offseason to do anything with this team, and even with that, he wasn't horrible. He had growing pains—what do you expect?

I understand in this win-now culture that has seen stud rookie quarterbacks emerge from the draft, Ponder's failures are frustrating. But, to have such a short-term mindset is—in the words of the great Dan Barrerio—“chumbalonish.”

Plus, Webb is a mirage, an illusion every backup quarterback projects. Of course, he looked good. Every backup quarterback that comes in looks good. Why do you think a change-up is so hard to hit in baseball? You're expecting a fastball (the starting quarterback), and you get a change-up (the backup).

Scott Mitchell. A.J. Feely. Kevin Kolb. All backups who looked good, then failed. If the Vikings want that, then that's fine with the other 31 teams in the NFL because that means they have a shot at a young potential winner.

The Vikings need to calm down and actually treat Ponder like a No. 1 pick and develop him. Matthew Stafford didn't start winning until his third year. Josh Freeman didn't start winning until his second.

Rick Spielman, the new Vikings GM, would be making his most fatal mistake if he trades, cuts or demotes Ponder. But, if the Viking fans want to be impatient, then the team moving to Los Angeles might not be the worst long-term problem for the club.