The Biggest Quarterback Mystery Of Our Time

Did Culpepper ever really get his chance?

An NFL story broke yesterday that will most likely permanently bury one of my personal favorite NFL talking subjects. Daunte Culpepper has retired from the NFL. Culpepper said in a statement that he has made this decision due to other teams’ lack of interest in a starting quarterback.

Culpepper was a fascinating NFL figure in my book for one very important reason. I never had even a semblance of an idea as to whether or not Daunte Culpepper was actually good at football.

In the years that Culpepper was with a Vikings team that had two hall of fame receivers and a great running back, Culpepper looked like a hybrid of Randall Cunningham and the Terminator. Culpepper however spent just as many years struggling to hold onto the football and throwing to no names, and in all of those years, and more importantly for three different teams, he was unsuccessful.

Here is my issue: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and even Joe Montana could not win a Super Bowl without a standout wide receiver. Culpepper was given that chance with Moss and Carter (and then again just with Moss, who has proven to be one of the greatest receivers ever), and for the overwhelming majority of the time, his offense looked unstoppable. On the other hand, there was very little depth at wide receiver on every team that Culpepper ever played on. Whenever Moss has any sort of issue, there was literally no one else for Culpepper to give the ball to.

Minnesota’s decision to keep Culpepper over Moss must have been some sort of indication that Culpepper was something special, even with his injuries aside. The problem was that the Vikings never found a replacement for Carter when he left, or Moss when he left. They closest they came was the early drafting of Troy Williamson, who has still yet to grasp the feel of an NFL football. Neither the Dolphins nor the Raiders provided Culpepper with even a hint of a receiving core either, and his bad numbers followed suit.

I think it was Culpepper’s complete talent mystery that always puzzled me. This was literally a quarterback playing by the extremes. He was either anchoring the most powerful offense in the NFL, or desperately trying to hold together the pieces of an inexperienced crew of flunkies. It was the fact that Culpepper never had an average team that kept anyone from ever seeing him as a potential game changing quarterback. And now, we will never know.