Despite having one in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Minnesota Vikings have had a terrible time finding that franchise quarterback. Fran Tarkenton was by far the best thrower to call Minnesota home but even his Vikings career was a little odd. Just as he was getting the hang of the professional game he was traded to the New York Giants. Five years later the Vikings traded to get him back. Fortunately for Tarkenton and the Vikings the best years of his Hall of Fame career were in that second stint with the team. In the five years when Tarkenton was away, the Vikings had a parade of quarterbacks that were mediocre at best. Joe Kapp had one terrific year that took the Vikings to a Super Bowl but a contract squabble put end to Kapp's time in Minnesota. Besides that one great season Norm Snead, Gary Cuozzo, Bob Lee and Bob Berry held back an otherwise excellent football team. If Tarkenton had been there the whole time the Vikings likely would have lost more than four Super Bowls. Who knows? Maybe they would have won one or two or more. Tommy Kramer was drafted in the first round a couple of years before Tarkenton retired as the heir apparent to the Vikings quarterback job. At times, Kramer was brilliant. Sometimes he was brutal. He was always exciting. He might have become the franchise quarterback that he was drafted to be if not for all the injuries. He was in and out of the lineup throughout the '80s. Towards the end of that decade Wade Wilson split time with Kramer. He was more consistent but not nearly as talented. When the offensive minded Dennis Green was hired as head coach in the early '90s the Vikings started a parade of quarterbacks, young and especially old, that has lasted nearly twenty years. Rich Gannon, Sean Salisbury, Jim McMahon, Hall of Famer Warren Moon, Brad Johnson, Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, Kelly Holcomb(!?!), Gus Frerotte, Brooks Bollinger, Tarvaris Jackson, future Hall of Famer Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb. Between Cunningham and George the Vikings drafted Daunte Culpepper in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft. He was handed the starting job the next season and played so well that the team ended their season in the Conference Championship game. In 2004 he had one of the greatest passing seasons in league history. At that point the future of the Minnesota Vikings and Daunte Culpepper looked very bright. That future went dark the in 2005 when Culpepper tore up his knee. He never played for the Vikings again. He was never the same again.
Outside of Culpepper and both of Tarkenton's tours, the Vikings have never had the same starting quarterback for five consecutive years. Kramer was around for a longer period but he was in and out of the lineup so often due to injury that there was no continuity. The Vikings have had several quarterbacks with great seasons. Tarkenton had a bunch. Kramer and Wilson each made Pro Bowls. Moon was excellent for a couple of seasons. Cunningham played out of his mind in 1998. Culpepper in 2004. Favre had one of his best seasons in 2009. It's so difficult to build when you never know who is going to be your quarterback from one season to the next. Favre pushed that decision into training camp. Twice! The Cunningham- and Favre-led teams came within a whisper of a Super Bowl. Those seasons were a lot of fun but anything short of a Super Bowl victory is a season that ends in a loss. A strategy that didn't work. Relying on a quarterback for only one year results in a team starting over the next year. For the majority of their 52 years the Vikings have lacked any real sense of stability at the quarterback position. Hopefully that has now come to an end.
In 2011 Christian Ponder joined Tommy Kramer and Daunte Culpeppper as the only quarterbacks to be selected in the first round by the Minesota Vikings. In only a handful of games Ponder has shown much of what it takes to be a franchise quarterback. His progression from his rookie season to this year has been remarkable. He's got the passing skills. His work ethic and leadership are excellent. He wants to get better. More importantly, he knows that he needs to get better.
For a team that has been successful for most of its history the lack of franchise quarterbacks is surprising. They've had only one in Fran Tarkenton. They've had a few that were terrific for a year or two. They've had a bunch that simply got the job done. They managed the game. They didn't get in the way. Actually, sometimes they did. Personally, I feel that a team like the San Francisco 49ers have been a little selfish with their run of elite signal callers. Frankie Albert, Y.A. Tittle, John Brodie, Joe Montana and Steve Young. Except for a little hiccup between Brodie and Montana that's over fifty years of continuous excellence under center or in the shotgun. That's just not fair. Hopefully Ponder starts a run for the Vikings similar to the one that Albert started for the 49ers in the '40s.
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