JJ McCarthy And the Ghosts Of Vikings Quarterbacks Past
Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Historically, Vikings fans can rely on three things: Consistently being talented enough to win, failing to reach their potential, and having to start a never-ending parade of veteran quarterbacks because they can’t develop a permanent solution.
While the Vikings selecting Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy 10th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft was refreshing, Viking fans are still back in familiar territory. Having a young quarterback prospect who many feel isn’t ready for the NFL game means the Vikes are trotting out another veteran quarterback in Sam Darnold.
It gets you thinking: How long has the team been in this cycle? Is the past the biggest hurdle McCarthy has to overcome in Minnesota? What names have been lost to the hands of time, churning through so many signal-callers. Let’s go back to 1990 to dissect this history along the purple-and-yellow brick road.
Since 1990, the Vikings have drafted 14 quarterbacks. The first, and one of the most notable among this group is Brad Johnson, drafted in the no-longer-existing ninth-round of the 1992 NFL Draft.
Johnson would end up having not one, but two stints with the Vikings (1992-1998, 2005-2006). He finished his time with the Vikings accumulating a very respectable 28-18 overall record with the ballclub. If you were a fan back in the mid-to-late ’90’s, Brad Johnson really represents the beginning of the Randy Moss explosion and the heartbreak of the 1998 season.
Because of all the hype and excitement that Randall Cunningham brought after Johnson broke his ankle in Week 2 of ’98 season, Johnson’s tenure tends to fade out of people’s memories. There were three other quarterbacks drafted by the Vikings in the 90’s. First, there was the forgettable Gino Toretta in the seventh-round of the 1993 NFL Draft, then the also forgettable Chad May in 1995’s fifth round. However, that third one?
That’s right, in 1999, the Vikings selected Duante Culpepper 11th overall. Culpepper took over for an aging Cunningham and got the keys to one of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL. Culpepper would amass an overall record of 38-42 with the Vikings.
While that record doesn’t blow the doors off, it’s worth noting that Culpepper brought the Vikings to the 2001 NFC Championship Game. During that season, Minnesota went 11-5, and Culpepper threw for 3937 yards with 33 touchdowns against only 16 interceptions. Of course, to remain consistent with tradition, the Vikings got smoked 41-0 by the New York Giants in that NFC Championship game, but who’s here to read about that?
Culpepper also accumulated 2476 yards rushing as a Viking and finished his career averaging 26.1 rushing yards per game as a quarterback, which still stands as fourth-best NFL history. Ultimately, Culpepper’s physical style of play meant injuries would become an issue, then turn into inconsistent play. Once that happened, it was a swift ending for Culpepper Magic.
In 2006, the Vikings decided to take another swing at quarterback to be Culpepper’s replacement. The Vikings selected Tavaris Jackson at the end of the second round (64th overall). Tavaris would ultimately fail to live up to his predecessor’s successes, as his career as a Viking was marred by the same issues that plagued Culpepper, but without the runs of high-level play that we fans enjoyed with Daunte. Jackson would appear in 36 games from 2006-10, but would only log 18 starts during that stretch.
During the Jackson Era, three more drafted quarterbacks joined this not-super-exclusive club: Tyler Thigpen in 2007, John David Booty in 2008, and Joe Webb in 2010. None of these three QBs would make much of a splash in a Viking uniform, outside of two Joe Webb appearances that most Viking fans still gush over to this day.
In case the story hasn’t been re-hashed to you by a guy in a Sidney Rice jersey recently, here you go: In 2010, Joe Webb led the Vikings to victory over one of the Philadelphia Eagles. It wasn’t just that the Eagles were one of the NFC’s best, but the storyline behind it. That was the year the Metrodome’s roof collapsed after a massive snowstorm that hit the Twin Cities. That forced the league to get creative with the remaining home games the Vikings still had on their schedule.
This is what set the stage for Joe Webb to make his first start on a Tuesday Night Football game at the University of Minnesota’s open-air football stadium. Webb went 17-for-26 with 195 and ran in a touchdown as the Vikings won 24-14. The second game would be a much less exciting 13-20 loss to Detroit. Webb would be pressed into duty again as an injury replacement during a 2012 Wild Card Playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. That game ended in a 24-10 rout by the Packers, which is every Viking fan’s nightmare.
Speaking of that injury in 2012, this leads us to the stop along the Vikings’ Failed Quarterback Tour. In 2011, the Vikings snagged Florida State’s Christian Ponder at 12th overall. Ponder came at the time when the Vikings were rebuilding after their historic 2009 season led by Brett Favre. Unfortunately, the jump pass master would fail to live up to where he was drafted, accumulating a 14-21-1 record as a starter.
Ponder’s best season came in 2012, when the Vikings secured a playoff spot winning their last game of the season against the Green Bay Packers. Even then, his success was largely on the back of running back Adrian Peterson’s MVP season. Ponder would finish the season only averaging 183 passing yards per game, which was barely 50 yards more than Peterson (131.1 per game) averaged on the ground.
Three years later, the Vikings decided the Ponder experiment was over, and the excitement for the Teddy Bridgewater Era was high. The 32nd overall pick in 2014, Louisville’s “Teddy Ballgame” came as a highly touted prospect. In fact, many felt could have been first overall in 2013, had he decided to declare a year prior.
Bridgewater would start 12 games as a rookie and showed promise while learning the NFL game, finishing with a 6-6 record. 2015 would be the year Teddy really took off. Behind one of the NFL’s most elite defenses, Bridgewater the team to an 11-5 record and a playoff matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. (Not to open the wound again, but that game was the one with the 27-yard wide left miss by Blair Walsh from victory as time expired. Still hurts.)
Expectations were high leading into the 2016 season. Much of the defensive unit from the year prior was returning and generally, you’d expect a young QB to continue to mature heading into their third season. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Vikings without tragedy suddenly striking.
On August 30th, 2016, Teddy dropped back during a training camp practice and his knee exploded. That’s not an exaggeration. Bridgewater suffered a gruesome, complete dislocation of his knee, which caused collateral damage to his ACL. There was some real chance that he could have lost the lower portion of his leg that day. This would mark the start of a long road to recovery for himself, and was essentially the end of his career in purple. Bridgewater would only appear in one game, which served as an emotional final farewell to Teddy’s time in purple.
Since then the Vikings have four QBs: Nate Stanley in 2020, Kellen Mond in 2021, and Jaren Hall in 2023. None of these three did much in regards to production as a Viking. Mond seemed to have some intriguing skills, but whenever his number was called, he failed to show much in regard to promise or poise.
Now it’s McCarthy’s turn, and this is what he’s up against. There’s a dark cloud hovering over the franchise, with disappointments and major injuries littering the way. We have no idea what we’re going to see from the young man, and the road leading to this point has been spotty at best. Let’s hope the National Champion can bring some of that Michigan Magic and have the power of his 27-1 record at college dispel the Ghosts of Quarterbacks past.
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