Gus Frerotte has Viking fans by the headsets.

When Minnesota head coach Brad Childress officially parked Tarvaris Jackson on his version of the Bridge to Nowhere, he named Frerotte the starting quarterback for the rest of the season. Barring injury, Jackson's not coming back - no way, no how, no hair on Childress' dome.

At the age of 37, Frerotte is the man. He'll force opposing defenses to respect the Vikings' passing game and take the pressure off Adrian Peterson. With Frerotte flinging, the receivers will make big plays, even though they now need Mapquest to find the end zone. And Frerotte will deliver the football so precisely, even Visanthe Shiancoe can hang on to it.

That's a lot to ask of a guy who's bounced from team to team to team since leaving Tulsa. Beside, one more problem should arise. The minute Frerotte steps into the Vikings' huddle as The Starter, he is no longer The Backup Quarterback.

In other words, Frerotte's status as the people's choice will be harder to find than an ounce of humility in Chad Ocho Cinco.

That's the way it's been in the NFL for decades.

The quarterback wearing the baseball cap and carrying a clipboard looks much better than the guy who's guided his team to a three-touchdown deficit in the second quarter. And the fans are rarely hesitant to make their feelings clear, no matter if the No. 1 man is Fran Tarkenton, Rex Grossman or Joe Namath.

Some of this anger mismanagement is justified.

In the case of the 2008 Vikes, Jackson didn't play very well.

Fans of the Bears understand that some starters overstay their welcome. Years ago, Bobby Douglass never did master the art of throwing a football. Some of his passes flew so hard and so far off-target, they burned up upon re-entering the earth's atmosphere.

That probably won't happen with Frerotte. In fact, he performed reasonably well as a Viking backup in 2003 and 2004. At least one fan fell in love with him.

While my son and I watched Minnesota blow a key game with the Redskins in a local restaurant, one member of the purple brotherhood became disgusted with Duante Culpepper, who was still in the middle of a great season.

"Put in Frerotte"! our fan insisted.

And the game hadn't even reached halftime.

Will the faithful still love Frerotte on Sunday, when he's a starter? I don't know. I do know that the history of Viking backups hasn't always been pretty, even though Randall Cunningham nearly took the team to the Super Bowl 10 years ago after beginning the season as Brad Johnson's caddy.

For instance, there was Gary Cuozzo's brush with success. During the early Grant years, Joe Kapp started. But fans always wanted to see Cuozzo, a more classic dropback passer. Cuozzo also went to dental school at Tennessee.

Cuozzo was an able reserve, and he finally got his chance to start in 1970 when Kapp left in a contract dispute. By the end of 1971, though, he suffered a fate perhaps fitting for an off-season dentist. He got pulled.

Cuozzo, though, looked like a superstar compared to Spergon Wynn. When it came to mediocrity, Wynn wasn't everything. He was the only thing.

Given a chance to start late in 2001, Wynn went 0-2, completed 49 percent of his passes and threw six interceptions against one touchdown.

How bad was he? Former Viking wide receiver Cris Carter threw Wynn under the bus when asked about backup quarterbacks on an ESPN show in 2008 - seven years after they played together. Carter could catch anything as a receiver, but he's even better at holding a grudge.

Frerotte may escape that kind of wrath. But, it's a safe bet that if he can't win right away, you'll see signs in the Metrodome demanding an appearance by rookie John David Booty?

JDB for QB? Sure, why not?

Just keep the headset handy.

Contact Jim Sullivan at (319) 291-1434 or jim.sullivan@wcfcourier.com