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Vikings' Donovan McNabb 'Surprised' By Benching, Wants To Play

Well, it looks like the transition from Donovan McNabb to Christian Ponder isn't going to go as smoothly for the Minnesota Vikings as one might have thought. After confirming today that Ponder is not only going to start this Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, but that he's expected to start the remainder of the season, head coach Leslie Frazier was complimentary of McNabb and noted that the veteran quarterback expressed his desire to remain on the roster to tutor the rookie, Ponder.

Now it's looking like McNabb isn't going to go quietly, as a tweet from Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press notes:

McNabb "surprised" by benching; says "I have a lot of football left."    

You can probably take it to mean that he's surprised that the team feels he deserves his benching, and not that he just found out from the press conference, but saying "I have a lot of football left" doesn't really inspire confidence in his "desire" to tutor Ponder. With the passing of Tuesday's trade deadline, McNabb might just push for the team to release him so he can try and catch on with a quarterback-needy team, like the Miami Dolphins.

McNabb was initially pulled last Sunday against the Chicago Bears, where he went 19-for-24 with 177 yards and no touchdowns, but no interceptions either.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.