It appears Donovan McNabb’s starting career with the Minnesota Vikings could be one final step away from ending.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier pulled the veteran in favor of first-round draft pick Christian Ponder during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 39-10 blowout loss to the Chicago Bears. McNabb, who hasn’t been the same since his last season with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2009, just couldn’t do anything to help the Vikings on Sunday against the Bears.

And the schedule doesn’t get any easier with undefeated Green Bay next up, which means Frazier has a big decision to make this week.

"We have to sit down on Monday and talk about a lot of things," Frazier said. "We need to decide on that direction we want to go."

It would seem hard to imagine staying with the 34-year-old McNabb is the answer after the Vikings fell to a disappointing 1-5 Sunday. McNabb completed 19 of 24 passes against the Bears but he threw for just 177 yards, which is less than an average of 10 yards per completion.

McNabb came into Sundays game ranked among the NFL’s lowest in completion percentage (56.8 percent) and passing yards (849) for the first five games.

While Frazier insisted he put Ponder in only because he wanted to get the former Florida State Seminole some action, it’s hard to imagine how the first-year head coach can justify sticking with McNabb. This is McNabb’s first season with the Vikings after a disastrous single season with the Washington Redskins in which he was also benched.

Not surprisingly, McNabb hopes to still remain the Vikings starter.

"It's tough, you're 1-5 at this particular point," he said. "It felt like we did a lot of great things today. I guess we'll sit down and talk but I expect to be in there next week."

Contact Terrance Harris at terrancefharris@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @Terranceharris

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