image courtesy of Vikings.com
The long-anticipated return of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is upon us.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported Sunday morning that the Minnesota Vikings will activate Bridgewater when the team returns from its bye week. The plan is for Bridgewater to be in uniform for the Week 10 matchup against the Washington Redskins.
Bridgewater has not suited up for regular season action since the final week of the 2015 season when the Vikings defeated the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field for the 2015 NFC North title. Bridgewater suffered a horrific knee injury 14 months ago that kept him sidelined for all of 2016 and half of 2017.
The 2014 first-round pick returned to practice a couple of weeks ago. NFL rules state that players listed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list to start the season must remain there for the first six weeks of the season. Teams then have a three-week period to evaluate the player’s health and decide whether to place him on injured reserve or activate him to the 53-man roster.
La Canfora’s report says Bridgewater will return “in full” this week. The report also says “there are no immediate plans to change course now” at quarterback.
Case Keenum has done a fine job filling in for Minnesota’s other talented and injured former first-round quarterback Sam Bradford. The Vikings have won four straight games and sit at 6-2, atop the NFC North standings, under Keenum’s leadership. Could the Vikings make a change at the most important position on the team while in the midst of a four-game winning streak?
Mike Zimmer’s press conferences offer little to no hints, not that he has ever been the type of coach to unnecessarily tip his hand anyway.
Minnesota’s quarterback situation is a freaking circus each and every year, and this is just another chapter. It’s important to remember that Bradford isn’t completely out of the fold just yet. His status is still anyone’s guess. He could be ready next week or he could be sent to the injured reserve to make room for Bridgewater on the roster. Nobody really knows.
But one thing we do know, at least according to La Canfora, is that Bridgewater is back. And it’s a good bet that he’ll play at some point this season, which is unbelievable in itself.
When Teddy Bridgewater does take over the offense again, whenever that may be, his supporting cast will be substantially better than when he last played in 2015. The scheme, the offensive line, the receivers, the backfield versatility, the defense, you name it — everything around Bridgewater is upgraded from 2015. And by the way, the Vikings finished 11-5 and won the NFC North in 2015.
If Bridgewater’s mere return to the roster doesn’t get you excited, that should.
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There's one other thing we have a receiver on our practice squad that along with Teddy back and our defense that could put us over the top.
Are you referring to Rodney Adams?
teddy is a winner. hope his knee holds up. skol vikings!
Perhaps next year when Cook returns from injury the RB position will be better, but until then I have yet to see Murrey really impress, though McKinnon has run very hard these past few weeks.
"everything around Bridgewater is upgraded from 2015"
Which just highlights that Bridgewater would be the weak link on any Vikings offense he played on, although that was already the case in 2015.
There are some reports that he has improved his notoriously substandard arm strength, which might allow him to finally attempt throws into tight windows. That would be nice, as I really have no desire to see the infamous "chicken hop" technique he used to try to throw the ball deep.
That still leaves him with a sidearm throwing motion which caused him to sail deep throws. The throwing motion was so bad that TV analysts started to demonstrate how peculiar it was.
None of those things are even Bridgewater's biggest issue as an NFL quarterback. His biggest issue is that he just isn't very intelligent, and trying to diagnose complex NFL defenses leaves him confused and holding the ball far too long.
Bridgewater's biggest asset, at least with some fans, is his modest personality. It allows socially isolated people to pretend that Bridgewater is their "friend", the one they might have had if only their mommies had allowed them to play with the other children.
Whenever I encounter a Bridgewater fan, I realize that they are trying to live their life vicariously through Bridgewater, because they clearly do not have one of their own. The problem with that is Bridgewater is every bit the failure they are, which results in them sitting around, crying in their beer, complaining about how unfair the world is.
The unfortunate thing is there are far too many people like that in this country today. It highlights the flaw of handing out free food instead of free birth control.
I don't even know where to start with this
Mike Kano is what is wrong with many people in this country nowadays... Pure ignorance
Drew, the classic line is: "I won't even dignify that with a response."
Troll or radical, same result.
Mike is not very bright!!!!
No, the problem is that Kano is very bright. I remember being very impressed with his analysis of Sam Bradford, for instance. He's an utter misanthrope, though, and hides behind the internet to toot his own horn ("I'm one of life's winners because I share the habits and thought processes of the world's leaders and other successful people.") while tearing other people down ("Victim of a mass shooting? It's your fault for attending some hootenanny of a country-western concert!" Had your 401k wiped out? It sure as hell wasn't Lehman Brothers or Bernie Madoff's fault!" "You're starving and your kid's died of cholera? You should have moved out of Yemen before Saudi Arabia blockaded the country, you failure, you human barnacle!"). Ayn Rand would have probably fallen for him, and that's a chilling thought.
My God, tooting his own horn while tearing other people down! Could it be, could Mike Kano really be an alias for Donald Trump? Nah, it can't be. Kano brags about his fortune all the time, but I've never read him brag about the size of his hands.
B.S.
He writes like a twelve year old that found a thesaurus, and eventually comes around to the same tired faux-narcissistic narrative--which is ALWAYS painfully shoehorned in. If there's any intelligence in his posts, I'm certain it's plagiarized.
^^^^^ Voted for Cheeto
Mike
You are a Viking fan? Go root for the Pack or Lions. Vikes and the fan base deserve better.
Get a life pal. It's a sports blog. Or troll your way back to GB. How about both? Haha
What the F is wrong with you? You are unstable in a way that's not even mildly entertaining, and that's truly the grave sin here.
Literally a garden variety nut job. At least try to be interesting. Tell us about frying bacon on the ceiling fan in your Napoleon suit or something. Your shtick sucks.
@Mike Kano: Holy shit, dude, you are a megatool. Where does that shit even come from?
Never thought Teddy was the solution to the Vikes QB issues. Bradford played well last year, but as expected, fell apart physically, as was always the risk when the Vikes gave up so much to acquire him. Teddy, Case and Sam might be enough if we could combine all three. I like Case and his athleticism. He can move so much more than Sam. While Teddy has courage in the pocket [unlike the vile "Christian" Ponder who looked like a scared rabbit], he lacks vision. And after being out for almost 2 years, is it really a good idea to push him back onto the playing field so soon? Look what happened when they rushed out Bradford a few weeks ago? He could barely drop back. Foolish decision.
I saw enough of Bridgewater in 2015 to sow some real doubts in my mind about him. I'd like to see him come back next year after a full off-season's worth of practices, more for the muscle memory gained through repetition than his knowledge of the playbook and Shurmur's system, which I would bet are just fine, and I have no doubt that would be the case if Bradford had remained healthy all year. But he didn't, and as well as Keenum has played, it's hardly been a model of consistent excellence and a convincing audition for a Super Bowl run, so Zimmer is probably going to take a shot with Teddy at some point. Luckily, Keenum seems to have the kind of personality that will allow that kind of "slight" to just roll off his back, so he'll be ready to step in if called upon to try to bail out the game, season or post-season. Hold onto your hats!
Haha.. thanks for posting that Mike. I'm glad everyone can see your... intelligence.
I've written that I thought Keenum would have to play two or three bad games in a row for him to be benched for a healthy Bridgewater or Bradford, but given what I've read over the last three weeks, I think Keenum is going to be on a much shorter leash. Keenum has had two games with a bad first half that he then turned into wins with a good to very good second half. I wouldn't be shocked if Zimmer gives him no more than the first drive of the second half to turn it around if Keenum turns in another bad first half. Zimmer sees Bridgewater as the this franchise's quarterback if Teddy is healthy and ready to play. I don't think he'll just insert Bridgewater like he did with Bradford against Chicago - one would think they'd be more cautious after that fiasco - but I don't think he'll be shy about pulling Case if he thinks Teddy can give the team a spark off the bench.
Another scenario for Bridgewater's return would be if we are winning comfortably in the fourth quarter, but that's not really this team's M.O. Well, it sort of is, but then the defense gives up a late TD to make the game seem closer than it is, so maybe Teddy comes in if the score is 24-10 with a quarter to play.
Anyone's guess, of course, but I think they let Case play the skins whole game, and by Turkey day, hand the ball to TB. They already know how Case did vs. the Lions. Tossup on Rams game, maybe a half each.