Which Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks have had the best back-to-back seasons in team history?
After two exceptional seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, it is hard to believe there may still be some fans still out there hating on quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Signed to a two-year extension in March, the 31-year old Cousins has put up some of the best passing stats since Brett Favre’s career-best season in 2009.
In 2018, his first year with the Vikings, Cousins threw for 4,298 yards and 30 touchdowns. Those numbers rank second and seventh-best in franchise history for single-season accomplishments. In 2019, these stats dipped a bit, but his overall performance improved with a 107.4 passer rating—the second-highest single-season passer rating in franchise history.
In two years, Cousins has been so good that he ranks seventh in completions, passing yards, and touchdowns in team history. With at least three more seasons to play in Minnesota, Cousins should easily move up the list of the best quarterbacks ever to play for the franchise.
To put in perspective just how good Cousins has been for the Vikings, we ranked his performance against the best consecutive seasons in team history. This ranking emphasizes wins, passing yards, touchdowns, and passer rating over a two-year period.
For some of Minnesota’s long-time quarterbacks, a single-season counted in two rankings. For example, Fran Tarkenton’s performance over 1974 and 1975 was one entry into the ranking as well as 1975 and 1976. The goal is to compare Cousins’ performance so far against the best to ever play for the Vikings.
Let’s check out the top five.
5. Brett Favre (2009 – 2010)
- Record: 17-12
- 6,711 passing yards
- 44 touchdown passes
- 92.2 passer rating
It should be no surprise that Brett Favre is a part of this ranking. A longtime nemesis to the Vikings, Favre spent 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and beat Minnesota 17 times in his career.
During his final year in Green Bay, Favre led the Packers to a 13-3 record. Things got ugly in the ensuing offseason as Favre retired, Green Bay moved on with Aaron Rodgers, Favre came out of retirement, and asked for his release. The Packers, not wanting to grant that release, traded him to the New York Jets.
Following a 9-7 record with the Jets in 2008, again, Favre announced his retirement. This time the New York released him from his contract and opened the door for the Vikings to sign him.
With several players along for the ride, including former Packers kicker Ryan Longwell, Minnesota brass flew down to Mississippi to lure Favre out of retirement for the second time.
He went on to spent two seasons with the Vikings and they were about as different as possible.
In 2009, Favre led Minnesota to a 12-4 record and a trip to the 2009 NFC Championship. He threw for 33 touchdowns, only seven interceptions, and he finished with a career-best passer rating of 107.2. His 4,202 passing yards rank as the fifth-most in a single season in Vikings history.
As good as 2009 was for him, 2010 was Favre’s worst season of his career. He finished with a 5-8 record as the starter with only 11 touchdowns and 19 interceptions in 13 games. His passer rating of 69.9 was the lowest in this career.
Combining Favre’s best year with his worst still placed him fifth among Vikings quarterbacks over a two-year span.
4. Warren Moon (1994 – 1995)
- Record: 17-14
- 8,492 passing yards
- 51 touchdown passes
- 85.7 passer rating
Warren Moon’s NFL career did not start until he was 28-years-old following a six-year run in the Canadian Football League. After 10 seasons with the Houston Oilers, Moon joined the Vikings at the age of 39.
In 1994, Moon led Minnesota to a 9-6 record and a trip to the playoffs. In his first game as a Viking, he faced Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers in a 16-10 loss at Lambeau Field. On the season, Moon passed for 4,264 yards with 18 touchdowns and 19 interceptions with a passer rating of 79.9.
The following season Moon played better, but Minnesota finished 8-8 and failed to make the playoffs. Again, Moon passed for more than 4,000 yards finishing with a final total of 4,228.
His two-season total of 8,492 yards is the most of any quarterback in franchise history. He matched his career-high with 33 touchdown passes and he finished with a passer rating of 91.5. In 16 starts, Moon was held without a touchdown pass only once and it came in a Week 9 matchup against the Chicago Bears in 1995 which turned out to be a 14-6 loss for the Vikings at the Metrodome.
Moon suffered a broken collarbone in 1996, his third year with Minnesota, limiting him to only eight games. He finished the season, his last with the Vikings, with a 4-4 record.
Overall, he led Minnesota to a 21-18 record during his tenure. Moon started two seasons for the Seattle Seahawks before finishing his career as a backup for two years with the Kansas City Chiefs. He ended up playing 17 seasons in the NFL and a total of 27 seasons of professional football.
3. Fran Tarkenton (1975 – 1976)
- Record: 22-4-1
- 5,955 passing yards
- 42 touchdown passes
- 90.6 passer rating
Fran Tarkenton played 13 seasons over two stints with the Vikings. A third-round draft pick out of Georgia, he joined Minnesota for their inaugural season in 1961.
Sandwiched between his two stints with the Vikings he played five years with the New York Giants from 1967 to 1971. Tarkenton is Minnesota’s franchise leader in career passing yards with 33,098 and touchdowns with 239. Despite playing in a very different era back in the 60s and 70s, he is still the Vikings’ best quarterback ever.
In 18 seasons, he made the Pro Bowl nine times—five of them while playing with Minnesota. His best performance came in 1975 which is also the infamous year of the Vikings’ Hail-Mary loss to the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs.
Minnesota entered the 1975 season coming off two-straight Super Bowl losses. Tarkenton led the Vikings to 10 straight wins before losing a close game in Washington. Only once during the year did he fail to throw a touchdown pass, that came in Minnesota’s second loss on the road to the Detroit Lions in Week 13.
For the season, Tarkenton and the Vikings finished tied with the best record in the NFL at 12-2 in addition to winning their division for the third consecutive year and the seventh time in eight years. Tarkenton led the league in completions, attempts, and touchdown passes that season.
The following year, Tarkenton led the NFL in pass attempts again as Minnesota won another division title. Tarkenton played in 13 games that season and finished 10-2-1. His 22 wins over the two years are the most of any quarterback in this ranking and his four losses are the fewest.
2. Daunte Culpepper (2003 – 2004)
- Record: 15-15
- 8,196 passing yards
- 64 touchdown passes
- 104.4 passer rating
The Vikings selected Daunte Culpepper with the 11th pick in the 1999 NFL Draft from Central Florida and then let him sit on the bench for his rookie season. He watched Jeff George (in George’s only season with Minnesota) lead the team to a 10-6 record.
The following year he took over as the starter and led the NFL with 33 touchdown passes and the Vikings to an 11-5 record. Unfortunately, this is the only season he led his team to a finish above .500 and his career record is 41-59.
In seven years with Minnesota, Culpepper’s best stretch statistically came in 2003 and 2004.
His passing stats are impressive, even if his winning percentage is not. In 2004, he led the league in passing yards with 4,717. This remains the highest single-season total in Vikings history. Along with all those yards, Culpepper also tossed 39 touchdowns, which also happens to be another Minnesota franchise record.
Despite his record-setting performance, the Vikings only finished 8-8. It was still just enough to make the playoffs. In the wild-card game against the Packers in Green Bay, Culpepper threw four touchdowns as he outplayed Brett Favre in a 31-17 Minnesota win.
Adding the 25 touchdown passes from 2003, Culpepper’s 64 touchdowns passes over two years is the most of anyone in this ranking. He also has the highest two-year passer rating of 104. His 8,196 passing yards are the second-most total behind Warren Moon.
On a negative note, his 15 wins are the fewest in the ranking.
1. Kirk Cousins (2018 – 2019)
- Record: 18-12-1
- 7,901 passing yards
- 56 touchdown passes
- 103 passer rating
When we started to put together the data for the ranking, it was expected that Kirk Cousins would compare favorably with the quarterbacks on this list. That he rises to the top was a little bit surprising.
While he did not top any of the statistics emphasized, he was consistently near the top in many of them. The stat that Cousins came out on top was for his 69.7 completion percentage. While not a lot of emphasis was placed on this stat, along with his win total, it was enough to nudge him past Daunte Culpepper for the overall top spot in the ranking.
Cousins’ 18 wins are the second-most in the ranking behind Fran Tarkenton and his 56 touchdown passes are second to Culpepper. Cousins’ 30 touchdown passes in 2018 are a career-high in five seasons as a starter. His 7,901 passing yards are the third-most in Minnesota franchise history for any two-year period behind Warren Moon and Culpepper.
While the number of games played was not taken into account for the ranking, it is another stat that Cousins led the group in. Since becoming the full-time starter in 2015 for Washington, Cousins has missed only one matchup—and that one was last year’s season finale in order to rest for the playoffs.
Cousins has played much better for the Vikings than he did in Washington. His passer rating improved from 93.7 to 103 and his touchdown to interception ratio has almost doubled going from 1.8:1 to 3.5:1.
With at least another three more years with Minnesota, Cousins has the opportunity to finish among the top three in passing yards and touchdowns. This should be easily accomplished if he continues to be as durable as he has been in his career.
Of course, nothing short of Cousins winning a Super Bowl and removing that two-ton gorilla off the back of the franchise will be enough to satisfy some Vikings fans.