Did Christian Ponder start at QB for the Vikings too early?

What do you think? I'd like to hear the opinion of my readers. Do you think Christian Ponder was started at QB too early for the Vikings?

Was it the right choice to have him start this year and get the on-field game experience for the rest of this season? Or should the coaches have had him on the sidelines learning and soaking in the NFL experience until next season?

I've heard interesting pros and cons to both arguments.

On one hand, Christian Ponder could have learned a lot without the stress of playing this year. He could have learned the ins and outs of traveling with the team, what the atmosphere is like at different venues at the away games, learning the way the Vikings play at a more intense level before being a Vikings starting quarterback. Since the NFL lockout was happening until so close to the start of the season, Ponder didn't have the time to learn how the Vikings worked, getting up to speed to learn the offence and get on the same page with his new teammates. Vikings Coach Frazier wanted to bring in a veteran that Ponder could learn from, and keep the Minnesota Vikings in contention for the 2011-2012 NFL season, instead of having a rebuilding year. That is why Frazier brought in McNabb, and Ponder has a lot he could Learn from Donovan McNabb.

The thorn in the side of that plan is that Donovan McNabb wasn't playing as well as the Vikings had hoped, which definitely changed things. So, the big pro of the Vikings putting Christian Ponder in as the starting quarterback for the Vikings 2011-2012 season are that he gets real-life experience playing in the league, versus taking it all in from the sidelines.

I'll look at this Vikings season as a rebuilding year, and hope and pray that the Minnesota Vikings have a better 2012-2013 NFL season! The good news is, the team record can't be much worse than it is now, so hopefully we can only go up from here!