Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder won’t play this week with a rib injury.
Moving forward, it’s unclear when he’ll be ready to go.
Per a league source, the injury (which reportedly entails a fracture) leaves Ponder as a week-to-week proposition. The Vikings are off next week, which means that he’ll have two weeks to heal.
In the interim, the Vikings have an opportunity to see what Matt Cassel can do. Though it’s not believed that the Vikings would have been ready to bench Ponder at this point, the injury provides them an excellent chance to see what they are missing by not playing Cassel.
They may not be missing much, based on Cassel’s history. Though he led the Pats to an 11-5 record (no playoffs) in 2008 after Tom Brady popped an ACL, Cassel was average at best in Kansas City.