List of Minnesota Vikings starting quarterbacks The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis , Minnesota . They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference ( NFC ) in the National Football League ( NFL ) . A franchise was granted to Minneapolis businessmen Bill Boyer , H . P . Skoglund and Max Winter in 1959 as a member of the American Football League ( AFL ) . The ownership forfeited their AFL membership in January 1960 and received the National Football League ' s 14th franchise on January 28 , 1960 that started play in 1961 . The Vikings have had 30 starting quarterback s ( QB ) in the history of their franchise ; they have never had more than three starting quarterbacks in one season . The Vikings ' past starting quarterbacks include Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Fran Tarkenton and Warren Moon . The team ' s first starting quarterback was George Shaw ; he was replaced by Tarkenton in the franchise ' s first game , and the future Hall of Famer retained the starting role for most of the remainder of the season . The Vikings ' starting quarterback from 2009 to 2010 was Brett Favre — formerly of the Vikings ' rivals , the Green Bay Packers — who was playing in his 19th season in the NFL . The 2011 season started with quarterback Donovan McNabb , formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins , under center . He was benched late in the sixth game of the season and replaced with rookie Christian Ponder . Ponder became the 31st starting quarterback in Vikings history the following week , when he made his first NFL start in a 33 – 27 loss to the Green Bay Packers . History . The Vikings ' starting quarterback for the first game of their inaugural season against the Chicago Bears was George Shaw . However , he was replaced by Fran Tarkenton early on , who passed for four touchdowns in the game and rushed for one more . Tarkenton went on to start in 10 of the Vikings ' 14 regular season matches that year . He played for the Vikings until 1967 , when he was traded to the New York Giants , and Joe Kapp took his place as the Vikings ' starting QB . Kapp led the Vikings to their first playoff appearance in 1968 , but he was traded to the Boston Patriots in 1970 and Gary Cuozzo stepped up to replace him . Cuozzo remained in the position for two seasons , moving to the St . Louis Cardinals in 1972 . Tarkenton returned for another seven - year spell as the Vikings ' starting quarterback in 1972 , continuing until his retirement in 1978 , at which point Tommy Kramer was promoted from the second string in his second season with the franchise . Kramer was injured for most of the 1983 season , so Steve Dils served as the starting quarterback for most of the season , before Kramer reclaimed the position in 1984 . For the 1987 season , Kramer shared QB duties with Wade Wilson , before Wilson took over on a permanent basis from 1988 . Wilson was replaced by the emerging Rich Gannon in 1990 , but Gannon was released after the 1992 season and veteran Jim McMahon took over for the 1993 season until the arrival of Warren Moon in 1994 . Moon retained the starting QB spot for two seasons , but suffered a broken collarbone halfway through his third season with the Vikings and was replaced by Brad Johnson for the remainder of the season . The Vikings had three starting quarterbacks in the following three seasons – Johnson ( 1997 ) , Randall Cunningham ( 1998 ) and Jeff George ( 1999 ) – before Daunte Culpepper began a six - year spell in his second year in the NFL in 2000 . He suffered a serious knee injury during the 2005 season , and Johnson took over in the position again , having re - signed the previous summer after seven years away from the franchise . Culpepper then joined the Miami Dolphins in 2006 , giving Johnson another full year as starting QB , only to be replaced by sophomore Tarvaris Jackson in 2007 . The 2008 season commenced with Jackson starting at quarterback , but he was replaced after two games by Gus Frerotte , who was returning to the Vikings from the St . Louis Rams after having been traded to the Miami Dolphins in 2005 . Jackson regained the job for the final three games and led the Vikings to their first divisional title since 2000 , and their first NFC North title . In 2009 , the Vikings recruited veteran QB Brett Favre out of retirement to be their new starting quarterback . In Week 13 of the 2010 season , Favre suffered a chest injury that ended his NFL - record streak of consecutive starts at 297 ( 321 including postseason games ) , and Tarvaris Jackson reclaimed the starting spot for Week 14 . However , Jackson was injured himself in Week 15 , giving rookie Joe Webb a chance to stake a claim for the position . Statistics . Having been the franchise ' s starting quarterback for 13 seasons ( longer than any other Vikings player ) , Fran Tarkenton holds the record for the most starts in a Vikings jersey , and those for the most wins and ties . He is also the franchise ' s leading passer in terms of numbers of attempts , completions , total yards gained and passing touchdowns , although Brett Favre has the best pass completion percentage . However , Tarkenton has also thrown the most interceptions . The record for the longest completed pass by a Vikings starting quarterback is held by Gus Frerotte , who threw a 99 - yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Bernard Berrian in a home game against the Chicago Bears in the 2008 season . Tarkenton is also the franchise leader for rushing attempts and rushing yards as a quarterback , but it is Daunte Culpepper – with 72 fewer rushing yards on 10 fewer attempts than Tarkenton – who has the most rushing touchdowns . Tarkenton holds the record for the longest rush with a 52 - yard run in his rookie season on the road against the Los Angeles Rams .