of the playoffs. 1989 Gannon did not play at all during the regular season, during which the Vikings went 10–6. In the Vikings' postseason divisional playoff game, a 41–13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Vikings used all three quarterbacks (Wilson, Kramer, and Gannon), and Gannon was 13-for-18 passing for 144 yards and 1 interception. He rushed for 7 yards and was sacked twice for a total 20 yards. 1990 Gannon started his first game in Week 4 (September 30) of 1990 after Wade Wilson had torn thumb ligaments. The Vikings lost that game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime 23–20. Steve Christie kicked the winning field goal for Tampa in a drive started from a Wayne Haddix interception of a Gannon pass. Gannon would play 14 games in 1990 and start 12. Gannon won his first career start in Week 9 (November 4) with a 27–22 win over the Denver Broncos. John Elway, starting quarterback for the Broncos, left the game due to injury after building a 16–0 first-half lead for Denver. Gannon made the winning touchdown drive on a 56-yard trick play pass: first to Herschel Walker, who pitched back to Gannon, who made a deep pass to Anthony Carter for the touchdown. Minnesota won despite Gannon completing less than half of his passes (6-for-13) and being sacked 7 times. The following week against the Detroit Lions, Gannon rushed for a one-yard touchdown and passed for 147 yards completing 12 of 17 passes as the Vikings won 17–7. These games began a five-game winning streak for Minnesota after a 1–6 start. However, the Vikings would finish 6–10 after losing the last four games of the year. For the season, he was 182-for-349 in passing for 2,278 yards and threw for 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He was sacked 34 times and rushed 52 times for 268 yards. 1991 In the 1991 preseason, Vikings coach Jerry Burns demoted Gannon to third-string and elevated Sean Salisbury to second-string behind Wade Wilson. Gannon played his first game of the year in Week 5 (September 29) against the Denver Broncos, replacing Wade Wilson with 7:20 left in the fourth quarter after Wilson threw three interceptions. On fourth down at Denver's 13-yard line with 43 seconds left, a wide-open Hassan Jones dropped Gannon's pass, and Minnesota lost 13–6. Gannon would replace Wilson as starter for the last 11 games of 1991,