The Vikings have had Hall of Famers Fran Tarkenton, Warren Moon and Brett Favre at quarterback. They also had Daunte Culpepper.
Yet, in his first season, Kirk Cousins is on pace to rewrite the team record book.
Cousins has completed 161 of 226 passes for 1,688 yards with 11 touchdowns. That puts him on a pace for 515 completions, 723 attempts, 5,402 yards and 35 touchdowns.
Sam Bradford holds the team completions record (395 in 2016), Moon the attempts mark (606 in 1995) and Culpepper the yardage (4,717 in 2004) and passing touchdowns (39 in 2004) records.
“Stats can give you an indication of how a player’s playing, but it does not tell the whole story,’’ Cousins said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. “My focus is on what do we need to do each week to win. In the first few weeks, we felt like throwing the football, getting pass attempts so our best athletes on the outside can make plays was our best chance to move the football and to score points. That may not be the case every week, but it’s given us a chance to be explosive early in the season, and we’ll see if it can continue.’’
At the rate he is going, Cousins could challenge some NFL single-season marks. Peyton Manning owns the single-season records for yards (5,477 in 2013) and touchdowns (55 in 2013). Drew Brees has the record for completions (471 in 2016), and Matthew Stafford had the most attempts in a single-season (727 in 2012).
“I don’t really care about statistics,’’ Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “I just want to get wins. I don’t care how we do it. Obviously, I have a philosophy, but we have to do what we have to do to win football games.’’