{"id":946203,"date":"2026-07-15T13:12:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/946203\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:12:21","slug":"josh-freeman-never-stood-a-chance-when-the-vikings-set-him-up-to-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/946203\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Freeman never stood a chance when the Vikings set him up to fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the multiple quarterbacks have had successful one-year stints<\/a> with the Minnesota Vikings, Josh Freeman definitely doesn’t fall into that category. However, and some might disagree with this, but most of Freeman’s lack of success in his lone season<\/a> with the Vikings was due to poor decision-making by the team.<\/p>\n

The year before ending up in Minnesota, Freeman threw for more than 4,000 yards and 27 touchdowns at the age of 24 as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His career in the NFL appeared to be heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n

But things completely unraveled in 2013, and the Vikings had a lot to do with what turned out to be the beginning of the end for Freeman’s time in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings 1-Year Rentals: Josh Freeman in 2013How it happened<\/p>\n

Year three of the Christian Ponder experience got off to an awful start for Minnesota, and veteran backup Matt Cassel didn’t really do any better when given the opportunity to start. So, with a 1-3 record after the first four games of the 2013 season, the Vikings were on the prowl for anyone with a working throwing arm who could potentially turn things around for them.<\/p>\n

Shortly after parting with the Bucs, Freeman agreed to sign with Minnesota<\/a>, and it almost seemed too easy (well, because it was).<\/p>\n

This was great! The Vikings got a young quarterback coming off a 4,000-plus passing-yard season, and Tampa Bay was just obviously dumb for releasing him.<\/p>\n

What in the world could go wrong? There’s no way Minnesota could mess this up.<\/p>\n

How it went<\/p>\n

After Ponder and Freeman stood on the sideline and watched Cassel and the Vikings get pummeled 35-10 on their home field by a one-win Carolina Panthers team in Week 6, Minnesota head coach Leslie Frazier decided to make a quarterback switch before the team’s Monday-night matchup on the road against the New York Giants in Week 7.<\/p>\n

Now, logic would likely suggest not to start a quarterback you just acquired unless you’re in a desperate situation. But the Vikings haven’t always been the biggest fans of logic during their history, and they definitely weren’t in 2013.<\/p>\n

So, obviously, we all know what happened next, as the Vikings named Freeman their starter for Week 7 against the Giants.<\/p>\n

Freeman’s first offensive drive against New York didn’t go well, as he only completed 1-of-4 pass attempts for nine yards, and Minnesota was forced to punt. However, it was just the first drive. There were probably plenty of nerves involved, and there’s no way he wouldn’t eventually figure things out, right?<\/p>\n

So, in the first two quarters of the matchup, Freeman went 7-of-16 passing for 74 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. Not great, but also probably what should have been expected from a quarterback who had not even been a member of Minnesota’s roster for a full month yet.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Vikings and Freeman, things didn’t get any better in the second half. In fact, they got worse.<\/p>\n

Minnesota had a total of eight offensive drives in the third and fourth quarters with Freeman under center, and they didn’t score a single point on any of them.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, the Vikings had Freeman throw 37 passes in the second half, and unsurprisingly he only completed 13 of them. He literally put on an incompletion clinic.<\/p>\n

Since Minnesota couldn’t put together a scoring drive with their new quarterback, New York eventually won the matchup by a score of 23-7, and Freeman finished with an all-time egregiously bad stat line.<\/p>\n

Against the Giants, Freeman completed just 37.7 percent of his passes (20-of-53) for 190 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and a disastrous 40.6 rating.<\/p>\n

How it ended<\/p>\n

To the surprise of no one, Freeman didn’t start another game for Minnesota for the remainder of the 2013 season, and he became a free agent in 2014.<\/p>\n

In the five years after his time with the Vikings, he had stints with the Giants, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, and the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes. He even got a chance to start again when he was with the Colts in 2015, and likely to the astonishment of some, Indianapolis actually won that game.<\/p>\n

Was Freeman’s year with the Vikings a success? Absolutely not, but Minnesota didn’t put him in a position to succeed either.<\/p>\n

Freeman barely knew the playbook when he was put in the starting lineup, and the Vikings had him attempt 53 passes in a game in which All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson was on the field at the same time.<\/p>\n

Looking back, Freeman probably wasn’t going to be a long-term solution at quarterback for Minnesota regardless of how he played in New York. But his mismanagement was just one of the many disasters that took place in an awful 5-10-1 2013 season for the Vikings.<\/p>\n

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