The Minnesota Vikings will be kicking off the Josh Freeman era when they visit the New York Giants this coming Monday. Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier named the recently signed Freeman his next starter. It's a little early to call it the Freeman era seeing as he's only signed through this season. The rest of this season is his audition. At only 25, he still has a lot of football in him. He could be either the answer to the Vikings quarterback prayers or the search continues. In fifty-three years, the Minnesota Vikings have really only had one franchise quarterback. Fran Tarkenton. Yet, even his Hall of Fame career is a little jumbled. He was the starting quarterback for the first six years of the franchise and then traded to the Giants. He was in New York for five years and then traded back to Minnesota. He spent the final seven years as the Vikings leader, taking the team to three Super Bowls.
In a sad comparison the Vikings have essentially had six centers in the fifty-three years of the franchise. Mick Tingelhoff, Dennis Swilley, Kirk Lowdermilk, Jeff Christy, Matt Birk, and John Sullivan. They've had at least eight quarterbacks in the last decade. Daunte Culpeppers's run from 2000-05 was the longest from one quarterback since Tarkenton's last game in 1978. The team has drafted a quarterback in the first round three times. Tommy Kramer in 1977. Daunte Culpepper in 1999. Christian Ponder in 2011. Injuries kept Kramer from ever really holding onto the job for an extended period of time. A knee injury essentially ended Culpepper's Vikings career as well as his NFL career. Ponder's future looks pretty bleak in Minnesota right now. Kramer and Culpepper certainly had stretches, even entire seasons, where they looked the part of the franchise quarterback. Culpepper's 2004 season was one of the greatest seasons that I've seen from a quarterback. A seemingly endless run of injuries always seemed to stop Kramer's progress just when his career looked to be taking off. He had a lot of talent. It's frustrating that the Vikings have never been able to find that one quarterback to lead the team. Their first quarterback was their best quarterback and they are still trying to find his replacement.
Here's the long list of quarterbacks for the Minnesota Vikings since 1961:
1961-66 Fran Tarkenton
1967-69 Joe Kapp
1970-71 Gary Cuozzo/Bob Lee/Norm Snead
1972-78 Fran Tarkenton
1979-82 Tommy Kramer
1983 Steve Dils/Kramer/Wade Wilson
1984 Kramer/Wilson/Archie Manning
1985-86 Kramer/Wilson
1987-89 Wilson/Kramer
1990-91 Rich Gannon/Wilson
1992 Gannon/Sean Salisbury
1993 Jim McMahon/Salisbury
1994-95 Warren Moon
1996 Moon/Brad Johnson
1997 Johnson/Randall Cunningham
1998 Cunningham/Johnson
1999 Jeff George/Cunningham
2000-04 Daunte Culpepper
2005 Culpepper/Johnson
2006 Johnson/Tarvaris Jackson
2007 Jackson/Kelly Holcomb/Brooks Bollinger
2008 Gus Frerotte/Jackson
2009-10 Brett Favre
2011 Donovan McNabb/Christian Ponder
2012 Ponder
2013 Ponder/Matt Cassel/Josh Freeman
The number of aging quarterbacks brought in by the Vikings over the years is astonishing. Some have been wildly successful. Moon was fantastic in the mid '90s. Cunningham (1998) and Favre (2009) had what many consider the finest seasons of their careers. In both cases the Vikings were achingly close to the Super Bowl. Manning, McMahon, and McNabb were much less successful. McNabb was actually tragic. George made things interesting. When he was on his game, few quarterbacks have ever thrown a prettier football.
The Vikings have to find that franchise quarterback. The search has gone on for far too long. Hopefully, this Monday will be the beginning of the end of that search.
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