Ranking every Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback since 1990

Quarterback No. 1

Daunte Culpepper (1999 - 2005)

Thanks to an offseason trade that sent Brad Johnson to Washington, the Vikings entered the 1999 NFL Draft with the 11th overall selection. With this pick, Minnesota decided to select former USF quarterback Daunte Culpepper, a signal-caller built like a linebacker who also had a cannon for an arm.

Culpepper sat on the bench during his rookie season so that he could learn from veterans Randall Cunningham and Jeff George. Then in 2000, the Vikings gave him a chance to be their new starting quarterback.

Culpepper took the league by storm in 2000, throwing for 3,937 yards and 33 touchdowns in addition to rushing for 470 yards and another seven scores. These numbers are more common in today's version of the NFL, but back in 2000, no one was doing what Culpepper was doing out on the field.

His efforts helped lead Minnesota to the 2000 NFC Championship, and it seemed like the franchise had finally landed its first franchise quarterback since Fran Tarkenton used to suit up for the purple and gold.

A knee injury brought Culpepper back down to earth a bit in 2001, and it wasn't until the 2003 season that he was truly able to get back on track.

His performance in 2004 is arguably the best ever by a quarterback in a Vikings uniform. During that season, he completed 69.2 percent of his passes for 4,717 yards and 39 touchdowns, in addition to rushing for another 406 yards and two touchdowns. After 16 games, Culpepper wound up with a 110.9 QB rating for the season.

His tenure in Minnesota came to an end during the 2006 offseason when he was traded to the Miami Dolphins for a second-round draft pick, just a few months after suffering a serious knee injury.

Currently, Culpepper still holds the Vikings' all-time records for single-season passing yards, single-season passing touchdowns, single-season passer rating, single-season rushing yards by a quarterback, single-season rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, and career rushing yards by a quarterback.