Josh Freeman has gone from starter to startled.

The quarterback began the season as Tampa Bay’s starter and got the nod once for the Vikings. But Freeman otherwise has had to get used to the role of watching, and Minnesota coach Leslie Frazier admitted it’s been a “challenge.”

“He’s a guy who is accustomed to being the guy,” Frazier said Wednesday. “So this is different for him.”

When Frazier named Matt Cassel as his starter and Christian Ponder as the backup for Sunday’s game against Philadelphia, it meant Freeman would be inactive for the seventh time in 10 games since signing with the Vikings on Oct. 7. He has played on one game, on Oct. 21 against the New York Giants, when he completed just 20 of 53 passes.

Freeman declined comment Wednesday. It’s possible the quarterback, who signed a $2 million contract for the remainder of this season after being waived by the Buccaneers, won’t get into another game for the Vikings.

Cassel will make his fourth start this season on Sunday. Minnesota’s primary quarterback has been Ponder, who has nine starts and is healthy after being inactive for last week’s game at Baltimore with a concussion.

“Josh is working hard, preparing as best he can,” Frazier said. “We talked at length (Tuesday) about his situation and where we are. He’s been a pro throughout this entire experience. … We wanted to see Christian play a little more, and now we want to be able to see Matt play a little bit. We’ve watched some things with Josh in practice and meetings. He’s done a lot of good things, but where we are now, we want to be able to take a look at Matt and see how he does in back-to-back starts.”

Follow Chris Tomasson at twitter.com/christomasson.