It’s time to bench Donovan McNabb.

Just like the Eagles did. Just like the Redskins did.

Any kid in high school knows that if you don’t play well, you get benched. Redskins coach Mike Shanahan knows this.

McNabb, the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, is just riding on his former glory, and Vikings coach Leslie Frazier can’t get the stars out of his eyes.

The Vikings gave the great quarterback a chance to redeem his past two awful years, but McNabb is not so great anymore. He has accuracy problems. With his inability to convert on third downs, he leaves our defense on the field too long.

The best defense is a quarterback who keeps the ball, one who guides the offense to first downs and touchdowns.

McNabb was brought in for this season to steer a team with playoff potential. But with the playoffs now pretty much out of the picture, Vikings coaches ought to view the 2011-12 season as a building year, which means:

Bring in rookie quarterback Christian Ponder. Let the new kid develop his NFL acumen.

Other rookie QBs getting to lead teams in the NFL are having good seasons. With Ponder, many experts speculated after the draft he would be the quickest rookie QB to adapt to the NFL from college ball.

Let’s see what he can do this Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.