Minnesota Vikings: Comparing First Starts of Christian Ponder and Aaron Rodgers

It's the beginning of an era, and possibly the end of a career. Christian Ponder's first NFL start marks the second straight season that Donovan McNabb earned a place on the bench prior to the end of the season.

With no reason left to pay attention to the McNabb-led Vikings, Leslie Frazier made the move to rookie first-round draft pick Ponder to lead the Vikings the rest of the season.

The change at quarterback gave Vikings fans at least a little hope in the border battle that brought the first-place Packers into the Metrodome, riding a 12-game winning streak, against the last-place Vikings. 

Ponder's start marked only the fifth time in Minnesota Vikings history that a quarterback started a game in his rookie season. The last rookie to start at quarterback for the Vikings was Tarvaris Jackson in 2006, also against the Green Packers. Jackson's fate was the same as Ponders, although in a much tighter game losing in Green Bay 9-7 in Week 16 of the season.

Matched up against Aaron Rodgers, the NFL's best quarterback this season, did not prove to be too big of a challenge for Ponder who had the Vikings poised for an upset after leading the Vikings to a 93-yard drive to pull within six points.  Not showing any signs of apprehension, Ponder had an extremely fast start for Minnesota, moving the Vikings to a touchdown in three plays to open the game.

Leading the Vikings to three first-half scoring drives and another halftime lead for Minnesota, left no doubt that Frazier made the right move. 

Unfortunately two second-half interceptions by Ponder and a blown coverage by the secondary that was without Chris Cook and Antoine Winfield, allowed the Packers to score 20 points in the third quarter to take a 33-17 lead, holding on to eventually win the game 33-27, dropping the Vikings to 1-6.

Here's a look at how Ponder's first NFL start compared to that of Rodgers to open the season in 2008.

First Pass in First Start

In some symbolic symmetry, Aaron Rodgers made his first NFL start at quarterback in 2008, opening the season at Lambeau Field against the Vikings.

The Packers opened the game on their own 28-yard line, and Rodgers, in his fourth year in the league, completed his first pass of the game to Donald Lee for three yards. 

For Christian Ponder in his first start, the results were a little more explosive. Starting the game on their own 27-yard line, Ponder connected with Michael Jenkins on a 73-yard pass play to the Packers 1-yard line.

First Touchdown Pass in First Start

For Aaron Rodgers, it took a little over a quarter before he threw his first touchdown pass in his first start. A one-yard completion to fullback Korey Hall with 10:12 left in the second quarter gave the Packers a 7-3 lead. 

Christian Ponder was a little quicker getting his first touchdown pass, a two-yard pass to Visanthe Shiancoe with 1:02 elapsed in the opening quarter to give the Vikings a short-lived 7-0 lead against the Packers.

The First Half Stats from First Start

Christian Ponder had a good first half in his first start. He finished the first half completing 8-of-14 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown. Aaron Rodgers had a considerably better half with only three incompletions, going 17-of-20 for 197 yards, matching Ponder's touchdown.

In his starting debut for the Packers in 2008, opener in Green Bay against the Vikings, Rodgers finished his first half in his first start of his career 12-of-16 for 142 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings.  

The Second Half Falls Short for Ponder

The Green bay Packers opened the second having scoring faster than the Vikings did to open the game. Needing only two plays, including a 79-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings, just 51 seconds into the second half.

For Christian Ponder, there were two passes he wished he had back in the second half.

The third quarter was brutal for Ponder as he would not complete a pass, and throw two interceptions to Charles Woodson. Two interceptions by Woodson led to two field goals by Mason Crosby, including a 58-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the third quarter to close out the scoring for the Packers.

Ponder would complete 5-of-12 passes in the fourth quarter, including a 24-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins. It brought the Vikings within six points with 7:51 left in the game.

In Rodgers' first NFL start to open the 2008 season, he would complete 5-of-5 passes for only 27 yards in the second half. This was more than enough as Will Blackmon would return a punt 76 yards for a touchdown for the Packers.

Tarvaris Jackson would led the Vikings to 13 fourth-quarter points but would fall short to Rodgers and the Packers with an interception with 1:08 left in the game.

The End Result of the First Start

While Christian Ponder's first NFL start came up a little short, there is at least some hope for the future. He finished with 219 passing yards against the Packer—the most individual passing yards in a game yet this season for a Vikings quarterback.

The Vikings, though losing Percy Harvin for most of the game, leaving the game after suffering another injury to his ribs, still took more shots down the field in this game than they had in any other game this season.

With just over two minutes left in the game, the Vikings defense could not stop the Packers, allowing them to pick up three rushing first downs to run out the clock and end the game.

Ponder's debut as the starter resulted in a disappointing 33-27 loss to the Packers. 

Aaron Rodgers who is 34-20 in the regular season, defeated the Vikings 24-19 in his first NFL start to open the 2008 season. In just over three seasons, Rodgers has developed into the NFL's best quarterback. 

What Vikings Fans Have To Look Forward to

There's no doubt that the Vikings were not going anywhere with Donovan McNabb at the helm.

Before the season started, I wrote that the Vikings should have passed on McNabb. The Vikings have been trying to short cut their way to the Super Bowl by trying to recycle veteran quarterbacks. They came very close in 2009 with Brett Favre—a result that most likely prompted Leslie Frazier to roll the dice at take a chance on McNabb.

From the two games we've seen of Ponder, he still has a bit to learn about the NFL game, but there's a huge upside that he could become the franchise quarterback the Vikings need to turn things around. Add a decent deep-threat receiver to the mix of Percy Harvin and Adrian Peterson and there could be enough talent on the offensive side of the ball to get excited about.

Now if only they could find a decent cornerback...