Minnesota Vikings fans celebrate a touchdown by wide receiver Jordan Addison (3) in the first quarter at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024.
Maybe his retirement was short-lived?
Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater teases an NFL comeback this week, some 10 months after he retired from the sport.
Bridgewater currently head coaches his high school alma mater, Miami Northwestern, a squad currently thriving under his tutelage. But per a Bridgewater tweet, he has the NFL itch. He wrote Tuesday, “So many QB jobs available for me after we make this state title run. I can’t wait to return back to the NFL 🙏🏾💯.”
The post caught Bridgewater fans off guard because most believed he was gone for good. He seems to love his new arrangement as the skipper of his high school team, but at the age of 32, a comeback is more than possible, especially if a prominent quarterback fell injured in the NFL sometime in the next seven weeks.
The Detroit Lions, for example, Bridgewater’s most recent NFL employer, could make sense if QB1 Jared Goff encountered an injury.
Otherwise, there’s always a small chance that Bridgewater was just spinning his wheels with the tweet, generating fanfare for “just because,” although Bridgewater is pretty straight-laced and not a pot stirrer.
The ex-Viking didn’t throw a single pass in 2023, filling QB2 duty for Goff in Detroit. But the Lions would’ve been in safe hands had Bridgewater been called upon, classified as one of the NFL’s top QB2s. All told in Bridewater’s starting career, teams were 33-32 (.507) on his watch.
The Miami Dolphins were Bridgewater’s previous employer before Detroit, as he served as Tua Tagovailoa’s backup in 2022. This was Bridgewater’s career resume:
Minnesota chose Bridgewater in Round 1 of the 2014 NFL Draft as the then-long-term plan for the quarterback of the future. Bridgewater took over during his maiden voyage season and immediately looked the part. A season later, combined with Mike Zimmer’s flourishing defense, Minnesota won the NFC North in 2015, and life was good. But the summer of 2016 was a different story. Bridgewater suffered a horrifying knee injury right before the start of the regular season, then-GM Rick Spielman traded a 1st-Round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for Sam Bradford, and Bridgewater’s career was forever changed. So was Vikings history.
After leaving the Vikings after the freak injury in 2016-2017, teams led by Bridgewater were 16-21 (.432). Scaled to a 17-game season, Bridgewater tossed 20 touchdown passes to 11 interceptions per year. In the past, those numbers would’ve been productive — like 20 years ago — but teams have learned that Bridgewater was best suited for QB2 assignments.
Bridgewater was arguably in prime form during a couple of spots in his career. First, in 2015, he earned Pro Bowl honors in just his second campaign, guiding the Vikings to that 2015 playoff appearance that was eventually marred by a missed 27-yard game-winning field goal against the Seattle Seahawks. When he landed with the Saints, Drew Brees was hurt for multiple games in 2019 — and the Saints were undefeated to the tune of 5-0 with Bridgewater in charge. That was the second peak of his ten-season career.
In the postseason, with Bridgewater’s career complete — assuming he doesn’t come out of retirement — his only playoff start occurred in the aforementioned 2015 season when Minnesota lost to the Seattle Seahawks.
The high school coach could also toss his hat in the ring for next year’s free agency, which is less than four months away.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.