EAGAN, Minn. -- Long before he signed with the Minnesota Vikings this spring, Kyler Murray understood the tragicomic nature of their attempt to find a stable long-term quarterback.
Murray grew up in Texas but has been a Vikings fan since playing for a youth football team by the same name, and he remembers watching quarterback Brett Favre -- the 40-year-old future Hall of Famer in his first year with the Vikings -- throw an interception late in the fourth quarter of the 2009 NFC Championship Game.
"I cried real tears that day," Murray said.
He'll step on the U.S. Bank Stadium field Sept. 13 against the Green Bay Packers (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS) as the Vikings' fourth different Week 1 starter in four years. That only begins to describe the team's itinerant -- but often successful -- quarterback turnstile.
Barring injury or an unexpected level of ineffectiveness, Murray will finish this season as the 18th different quarterback to lead the Vikings in passing since the NFL's free agency era began in 1993. The only teams with more are the Cleveland Browns (20) and Washington Commanders (19), according to ESPN Research.
The Vikings are paying $1.3 million of Kyler Murray's $36.8 million salary for 2026. The Cardinals, who released him in March, will pay the remainder. AP Photo/Frank Franklin II Generations of Vikings team builders have tried everything.
They've used four first-round draft picks to select quarterbacks, but three of them -- Daunte Culpepper, Teddy Bridgewater and J.J. McCarthy -- had their careers derailed by injuries before they turned 28. The fourth, Christian Ponder, was benched at age 25.
They've acquired two future Hall of Fame passers, Favre and Warren Moon, and tried to lure a third out of retirement (Dan Marino). Some of the team's leadership wanted to sign another future Hall of Famer, Aaron Rodgers, in 2025.
They've tapped veteran backups from Gus Frerotte to Matt Cassel to Case Keenum to Sam Darnold, and acquired three players drafted with the No. 1 pick (Jeff George, Sam Bradford and Murray).
"And probably the one that had the longest tenure and best career there was Kirk Cousins," said Brad Johnson, who had two stints as the starter in Minnesota from 1996 to 1998 and 2005 to 2006.
Vikings' Week 1 starting QBs*
The Vikings lured Cousins in free agency with a fully guaranteed contract and ultimately paid him $185 million -- more than any player in their history -- to lead them in passing from 2018 to 2023. That stint was the longest of any Vikings quarterback since Tommy Kramer, whose final season as a full-time starter was 1986.