Purple bruise wrote:must say that during Pep's time with the Vikes he had an outstanding line and great receivers to throw to. His last year of playing for the Vikes(2005), right up until his injury, he sucked. He had thrown 12 ints. to only 6 tds. and was fumbling the ball left and right.
He definitely started off terribly, with 8 INTs and 2 lost fumbles in the first 2 games. The whole offense was a mess at the beginning of the year under first year OC Steve Loney.
However, after those first two games, he played better. He had an excellent performance in a win over the Saints (21-29, 300 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) and he had another superb performance a few weeks later against Green Bay (23-31, 280 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs).
They basically asked him to carry the offense early that season and it worked out poorly. He had several turnovers on good passes that were botched by his receivers and I recall at least one that was just a heave and a prayer near the end of a half, trying to make something happen. It was essentially a punt.
There's no doubt he had his struggles in 2005 but he didn't just come out and stink every week right up until his injury. He had a couple of excellent games, a couple of awful ones and a few mediocre performances. Look at the cast around him at that point, and consider Steve Loney's illustrious career as an NFL OC (one season with the 2005 Vikings) and I think it puts some of those struggles in perspective.
I like Pep a whole lot but a lot of his success had to do more with the team than him being great.
I don't think he ever played for a great team, unless someone considers the 2000 team great. No QB thrives without some good, quality players around him. I thought the Vikings basically pulled the rug out from under Culpepper in 2005. They traded away his best receiver and they lost his OC and (by that point) mentor, Scott Linehan, because McCombs was too cheap to pay him.
