Minnesota Vikings All-Time Quarterback Starts

Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Ben Goessling caught me by surprise with his Sunday pre-game mention that Kirk Cousins was making his 50th start as the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. I wasn’t surprised that the start against the Seattle Seahawks was the 50th for Cousins. This is his fourth season as the Vikings starter. Due to his remarkable durability, simple math says he’d hit 50 early in his fourth season. The surprise was that Cousins is only the fourth Vikings quarterback to start 50 games. With a moment’s reflection on the Vikings quarterback past, the number of members in the 50-start quarterback club isn’t surprising at all. 

The Vikings 50-Start Quarterback Club

Fran Tarkenton

Tommy Kramer

Daunte Culpepper

Kirk Cousins

The Vikings have been searching for their next franchise since Fran Tarkenton retired after the 1978 season. Tommy Kramer was drafted in the first round of the 1977 NFL Draft to be that guy. If not for the injuries that peppered his career, he probably would’ve succeeded. When healthy, he was a lot of fun. If only he was healthy more often. Daunte Culpepper was drafted in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft to be that guy. If not for the knee injury that ended his 2005 season, he probably would’ve finally been that guy. His 2004 season was ridiculous and it looked like the start of something special. Culpepper never again had the juice that he once had after that knee injury. Tommy Kramer, Wade Wilson, Rich Gannon, Brad Johnson, Daunte Culpepper, Teddy Bridgewater. Over the past 50 years, the Vikings occasionally thought that they might have a contender to be their next franchise quarterback but it never quite happened. Injuries were often the reason. Instead of quarterbacking consistency it’s been a revolving door. It’s been an interesting half-century of quarterback play in Minnesota. “Interesting” might not be the best word to describe this time but it does describe it. The Vikings are three games into their 61st season. 921 games. 39 quarterbacks have started those games. 

Rank	Quarterback	Years	Starts
1	Fran Tarkenton	1961-66, 1972-78	170
2	Tommy Kramer	1977-89	110
3	Daunte Culpepper	1999-2005	80
4	Kirk Cousins	2018-Present	50
5	Wade Wilson	1981-91	48
6	Brad Johnson	1994-98, 2005-06	46
7	Warren Moon	1994-96	39
8	Joe Kapp	1967-69	38
9	Christian Ponder	2011-14	36
10	Rich Gannon	1987-92	35
11	Brett Favre	2009-10	29
12	Teddy Bridgewater	2014-17	28
13	Randall Cunningham	1997-99	23
14	Gary Cuozzo	1968-71	21
15	Tarvaris Jackson	2006-10	20
16	Sam Bradford	2016-17	17
17	Steve Dils	1979-84	15
18	Case Keenum	2017	14
19	Gus Frerotte	2003-04, 2008	13
20	Jim McMahon	1993	12
21	Bob Lee	1969-72, 1975-78	11
22	Jeff George	1999	10
23	Sean Salisbury	1992-94	9
24	Matt Cassel	2013-14	9
25	Donovan McNabb	2011	6

26	Ron Vander Kelen	1963-67	5
27	George Shaw	1961	4
28	Tony Adams	1987	3
29	Todd Bouman	2001-02	3
30	Kelly Holcomb	2007	3
31	Bob Berry	1965-67, 1973-75	2
32	Norm Snead	1971	2
33	Archie Manning	1983-84	2
34	Spergon Wynn	2001	2
35	Joe Webb	2010-13	2
36	Brooks Bollinger	2006-07	1
37	Josh Freeman	2013	1
38	Shaun Hill	2016	1
39	Sean Mannion	2019	1

Some Vikings All-Time Quarterback Starts Thoughts

As an itty-bitty Vikings fan, I was always intrigued by Fran Tarkenton’s two distinct stints in Minnesota. He wasn’t the only Vikings quarterback that left and came back during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

Bob Lee: 1969-72, 1975-78

Bob Berry: 1965-67, 1973-75

If the Vikings of that era needed quarterback help they turned to what they knew.

#28 Tony Adams started all three of his games as a replacement player during the labor strife that hacked up the 1987 season. Those games were a joke yet they go down as official NFL events. 

I always wanted to see Rich Gannon get a better opportunity than he ever seemed to get to be the Vikings starter. He was the team’s main starter from 1990-92. Dennis Green was hired as head coach in 1992. I thought that Gannon was on a upward trajectory. I guess that Green had seen enough. He benched Gannon after an 8-3, division-leading start in favor of Sean Salisbury. Sean Salisbury! When Green turned away from Gannon he turned to a revolving door of “old guys.” While Warren Moon was fun and 1998 Randall Cunningham was a blast it was a frustrating time. It never felt like the team was building to something. Each year felt like a restart with a new “old guy.” The Vikings have had a lot of that over their 61 years.