Donovan McNabb: 5 Reasons He Will Succeed with the Minnesota Vikings

Donovan McNabb’s first and last season in Washington started well and ended poorly.

In week 3, McNabb led the Redskins into Philadelphia, his former home of 10 years, and came out with a win.  

In week 14, Mike Shanahan benched the six-time Pro Bowl quarterback in favor of Rex Grossman and soon after demoted him to third string for the season’s remainder.

It was a sharp fall for the former second overall pick out of Syracuse.

Last season, McNabb hoped to be Washington’s missing piece, but the team struggled and he threw a career high 15 interceptions.

Now, McNabb is a member of the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings nearly made it to the Super Bowl two years ago but struggled last season, as Brett Favre played like a 40-year-old quarterback. Next season, McNabb will try to be the key that re-starts their offensive engine.

Here are five reasons why Donovan McNabb will be successful in Minnesota.

McNabb Will Have a Great Running Game for the First Time in His Career

Donovan McNabb’s never had the luxury of being on a team with a great running game.

Even with Brian Westbrook behind him, McNabb was almost always Philadelphia’s offensive catalyst. Andy Reid’s philosophy of throwing the ball at least 60 percent of the time helped contribute to that.

Last season, Washington’s rushing attack was abysmal, averaging 91.3 yards per game—good for 30^th in the league.

Next season, McNabb will get to experience what it’s like quarterbacking a team with a great running game and arguably the league’s best running back in Adrian Peterson, who will greatly benefit from his new signal caller.

Last season, Vikings opponents often stockpiled eight—and sometimes nine—defenders in the box to slow down the NFL’s record holder for most rushing yards in a game. Still, the team was able to average 121.4 yards per game on the ground—good for 10^th in the league.

Opposing defenses will have to think twice about stopping Peterson at all costs and giving McNabb huge windows to throw to Percy Harvin, Bernard Berrian, Michael Jenkins and Visanthe Shiancoe.

Thanks to the best running game he’s easily ever had, McNabb’s touchdown to interception ratio and quarterback rating will vastly improve.

McNabb Will Improve His Mechanics

While Donovan McNabb’s always had a strong arm, his accuracy has been inconsistent.

Over the years, when McNabb’s taken a lot of hits in a game or his receivers fail to do their job, he tends to become frustrated and doesn’t use proper mechanics.

Last season, the Redskins worked to improve McNabb’s footwork by keeping him in a wide stance, and they noticed improvement mid-way through the year. Unfortunately, his offensive line didn’t provide much protection and he had no one very talented to throw to.

Next season, with a bevy of solid targets around him, McNabb will be frustrated less and have a stronger dedication to mechanics, resulting in less errant throws.

McNabb Won’t Have to Play Many Cold Weather Games

Donovan McNabb’s never had consistent success passing the ball in cold weather.

Fortunately for Vikings fans, the team only has two regular season games for which that should be a factor—November 14^th at Green Bay and December 24^th at Washington.

Well, as long as something like this doesn’t happen.

If the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome’s roof does cave in again, McNabb will still—barring injury—have Adrian Peterson to hand the ball off to.

McNabb Wants to Prove His Doubters and Mike Shanahan Wrong

Heading into last season, Redskin fans were excited to have a six-time Pro Bowler playing quarterback.

In the previous few seasons, Washington’s signal callers hadn’t been of very good quality. When McNabb arrived, there was talk that he’d be John Elway the second for Mike Shanahan and fix the Redskins quarterbacking woes.

Unfortunately for Washington, McNabb wasn’t the solution but then again who would’ve been? The Redskins offense was littered with past-their-prime veterans, like Clinton Portis and Santana Moss, and a sluggish offensive line.

Still, McNabb did throw for 3,377 yards in 13 games—on pace for 4,156 yards in 16 games—impressive for being surrounded with little talent.

McNabb’s got to be tired hearing questions about his physical conditioning and would probably enjoy adding fuel to the fire of Mike Shanahan’s critics, many of whom feel the coach hasn’t done anything special since Elway left the Broncos.

McNabb Won’t Want to Lose His Starting Job to a Rookie

In the 2011 NFL Draft, the Vikings selected Christian Ponder with the 12^th overall pick.

While some analysts felt Ponder was the collegiate quarterback most ready to play professionally, it was quite a surprising pick.

Donovan McNabb became the Eagles starter mid-way through his rookie year and doesn’t want Ponder to do to him what he did to Doug Pederson in 1999.

As a result, Vikings fans won’t have to worry about possible conditioning issues with McNabb. Ponder—who will benefit from McNabb’s presence—intends to compete with the 13-year veteran for the starting job so motivation to keep the rookie at number 2 in the depth chart won’t be lacking.

Season Prediction

Donovan McNabb will lead the Minnesota Vikings back to the playoffs as a wild card team, after finishing next season 11-5.

McNabb will end up with nearly 3,500 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions.

Vikings fans should look forward to seeing the six-time Pro Bowler in purple and gold.