Minnesota Vikings Quarterbacks

As a young Minnesota Vikings fan in the early 1970s, I was treated to the quarterbacking of Fran Tarkenton. He, along with Alan Page and Chuck Foreman, was a big reason this California kid fell for a football team from Minnesota. Tarkenton led the Vikings to three Super Bowls. He won an MVP award in 1975 and broke all of Johnny Unitas’ career passing records. Tarkenton was one of the league’s best quarterbacks. This naive kid thought that he’d forever be leading the Vikings. I also thought that Page, Foreman, Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, Mick Tingelhoff, Paul Krause, Bobby Bryant, Ron Yary, and the rest of those greats would play forever. Instead, they were pretty much all gone before the team entered the 1980s. Fran Tarkenton was a great quarterback. The Vikings have been searching for their next great quarterback ever since he retired after the 1978 season. It’s been a very long search.

In that search for their next great quarterback, the Vikings have selected only four quarterbacks in the first round of the NFL Draft.

1977 Tommy Kramer

1999 Daunte Culpepper

2011 Christian Ponder

2015 Teddy Bridgewater

2024 J.J. McCarthy

Tommy Kramer was selected in the first round of the 1977 NFL Draft to take over for Tarkenton. When Kramer was on the field, he looked the part of a franchise quarterback. As a true gunslinger, he was a lot of fun. For some of the Vikings fans slightly younger than me, he was their quarterback. The sad part of Kramer’s career was the injuries that kept taking him off the field. Over his 13 years in Minnesota, he played every game in a season twice. That was 1979 and the strike-shortened 1982 season. He hit 15 games twice, 14 games once, and 13 games once. The remaining seven seasons saw him play nine games or fewer. There was a start and stop aspect to his career. Every time it felt like he and the team were starting to roll, an injury derailed things. When he was on those rolls, he looked like the quarterback he was drafted to be. Instead, the injuries left those that witnessed those days wondering what might’ve been. When it comes to the quarterback position, the Vikings have a lot of that. Daunte Culpepper was selected in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft to take over the high-octane 1998 offense. Culpepper tossing the ball to Randy Moss and for a couple years to Cris Carter was a dreamy thing. Culpepper had a few strong seasons culminating in an MVP-worthy 2004 season. Unfortunately, that 2004 season would be his last complete season with the Vikings. A knee injury in 2005 ended his Minnesota days. His is another case of wondering what might’ve been. In 2011, the team’s decision-makers were so desperate for a rookie quarterback that they forced Christian Ponder into the first round. He never should’ve been selected there. He probably shouldn’t have been selected on Day 2 either. In his four years with the Vikings, I can think of one game in which he made multiple passes of first-round quality. That was the final game of the 2012 season against the Green Bay Packers. That’s the game better remembered for Adrian Peterson falling nine yards short of the season rushing record. Ponder picked a fine time to throw something like a first-rounder. It was the Packers and the win got the Vikings in the playoffs. Teddy Bridgewater’s Vikings days felt a lot like Daunte Culpepper all over again. I had sky high hopes for Bridgewater. I was thrilled when the Vikings traded into the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft to select him with the 32nd pick. He was going to he the franchise quarterback that ended the decades-long search. Instead, a brutal training camp knee injury in 2016 ended his Vikings career. So, injuries wrecked or ended the careers of three of those four first-round quarterbacks. The fourth never should’ve been selected in the first round. It’s been a long and frustrating stretch of years. The inability to find a young, franchise quarterback or keep him on the field forced the Vikings to often fill that role with older veterans. From Jim McMahon to Warren Moon to Randall Cunningham to Gus Frerotte to Brad Johnson to Brett Favre. Some of those old guys produced some brilliant seasons. Moon was a lot of fun for a couple years. Cunningham was fantastic in 1998. That was a team that should’ve brought a Lombardi to Minnesota. Favre was excellent in 2009. That was a team that should’ve added another Lombardi. Instead, end of game gaffes left the Vikings trophy cabinet barren. 

All of that changes with J.J. McCarthy. The long quarterback search is over. That’s the hope. The are many reasons for the high hopes. Tops of those reasons is the talent and character of McCarthy. He won titles in high school. He won a title at Michigan. He’s simply won everywhere he’s been. Then there’s the quarterback environment in Minnesota. Kevin O’Connell is perhaps the perfect head coach for a young quarterback. For any quarterback. He’s a former NFL quarterback. He’s a terrific player caller. He’s created a wonderful team environment. In Josh McCown, McCarthy has another former NFL quarterback as his position coach. New to the team, assistant quarterbacks coach Jordan Traylor is an unknown. He replaces Grant Udinski. When Udinski left Minnesota to become the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars it was a clear loss. He and McCarthy had reportedly grown close. If O’Connell likes Traylor as a quarterbacks coach, I like Traylor as a quarterbacks coach. In Kevin O’Connell we trust. 

This is J.J. McCarthy’s time. I believe that Minnesota’s long search for a franchise quarterback is over.