MINNEAPOLIS -- Sam Bradford joined the Minnesota Vikings eight days before the start of the 2016 regular season. He's played for two different offensive coordinators, and behind seven different offensive-line combinations, since he arrived. He has a chance to set an NFL single-season record for completion percentage this weekend.

The only three Vikings quarterbacks who have surpassed Bradford's 98.3 passer rating are the ones who fashioned the most iconic quarterbacking seasons in team history: Daunte Culpepper in 2004, Brett Favre in 2009 and Randall Cunningham in 1998.

So why has his performance triggered mostly polite applause instead of hallelujahs from fans of a quarterback-starved franchise?

For all of Bradford's shiny statistics, the Vikings still rank only 18th in passing offense, and the team is only 6-8 with him as a starter. His completion percentage has been helped by a high-percentage passing game that has the quarterback averaging a league-low 6.24 air yards per attempt, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

While Bradford has the league's seventh-best passer rating, thanks to his high completion percentage and low interception rate, he doesn't fare as well in ESPN's QBR metric, which attempts to put quarterback performance in context by game situations and types of throws. Bradford's Total QBR is 57.2, which ranks 20th in the league, just behind Andy Dalton and ahead of Colin Kaepernick.

The 29-year-old's performance must be measured on any number of sliding scales, given how little time he had to acclimate himself to the offense, the deficiencies of the Vikings' offensive line and the lack of stability around the quarterback. It's worth noting, though, that coach Mike Zimmer -- who's not given to hyperbole -- had some awfully high praise for Bradford on Wednesday.

Sam Bradford heads into the Vikings' finale with a completion percentage of 71.3, which would break the NFL record. AP Photo/Jose Juarez

"I think, honestly, if you sat back and looked at all the things -- being traded, trying to learn a new system, having a new coach, having to learn teammates -- all these things that he’s had to deal with. Injuries on offense. I thought he’s done an unbelievable job," Zimmer said. "He’s got a chance to break an NFL record for completion percentage. His quarterback rating is the highest it’s been in his career. Maybe this is the best year he’s ever had. If you put all those together and look at the things he’s had to deal with, I think he’s been amazing."

Bradford is signed for 2017 at a cap number of $17 million, and while the Vikings will hope Teddy Bridgewater can return from his torn ACL, they figure to go into next season with Bradford as their quarterback. While Zimmer said he will make a decision after the season on the future of interim offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, there's an argument to be made in favor of Shurmur, for the sake of providing Bradford with the thing he's often lacked in his career: stability. Shurmur was with Bradford in St. Louis and Philadelphia before coming to Minnesota, and he would get a chance to rework the offense fully in his vision before 2017 if he's given the permanent job. Bradford said Wednesday he'd be "all for" Shurmur getting the permanent job, and assuming the Vikings are planning around the quarterback for 2017, it might provide the framework for them to keep Shurmur.

Whatever the Vikings do, they'll want to know for sure how far Bradford can take them by the end of 2017, when his contract expires. His agent, Tom Condon, could push for a contract extension this summer, and while the Vikings could wait to commit, they'll need to settle on their long-term direction at quarterback before too long.

Filling in for a popular leader in Bridgewater, Bradford said he's gotten comfortable setting the tone for the team through the course of the season. In addition to that 6-8 mark as a starter, he's directed an offense that's struggled to carry its own weight (though often for reasons beyond the quarterback's play). Given all the chaos around him, though, Bradford has fashioned a solid statistical season. His play left Zimmer sounding optimistic about what Bradford can do in a second season with the Vikings.

"I think when you bring in a free agent, which basically that’s what he was; he was brought in very late, obviously," Zimmer said. "But when you bring a free agent in, typically, they’re a lot better their second year than their first year. You can go through a lot of the guys that we have on this team that were free agents and in their second year they played much, much better than they did the first year. They get more comfortable in the system, they understand things more, they understand how we do things. I think in his case, yes [he can improve]."