Who Should Be The Vikings' Quarterback?

The adage that says a player isn't supposed to lose his job because of an injury is not why Brad Johnson should be the Vikings' starting quarterback.

Sometimes, a struggling starter gets injured and his backup rallies the team to a few wins. That's what has happened with Doug Flutie, who deserves to keep the starting job in Buffalo. But that's not the case in Minnesota, where the Vikings put up 62 points in seven quarters before Johnson broke his leg.

Randall Cunningham has been one of the league's most pleasant surprises this season--without him the Vikings could easily have sunk. But Johnson is Minnesota's quarterback of the future. As such, he needs a chance to develop chemistry with the Vikings' other stars if they are to turn their breakout '98 season into success for years to come.

Johnson clearly has the skills to win with this team, and it's not worth risking messing up the Vikings' potential long-term chemistry under Johnson for short-term success under Cunningham. -- Chris Jenkins

A player can't lose his job because of an injury? Forget that. A coach's obligation is to put the players on the field who give his team the best chance of winning, not show loyalty toward one player.

Right now for the Vikings, the quarterback who gives them the best chance of winning is Cunningham. Not only has he won games since replacing an injured Johnson, he has routinely put teams away by halftime. Cunningham's average yards per completion is nearly four yards higher than Johnson's was last season, as he has brought new meaning to "stretching defenses" by routinely launching the best deep ball in the game. So far, the only way to keep Cunningham from hooking up with Cris Carter, Jake Reed and Randy Moss has been to interfere with one of them. All of the focus on the passing game also has given running back Robert Smith plenty of room to roam.

The Vikings are the success story of this season. Coach Dennis Green would be crazy to mess with the script. -- Kyle Veltrop

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