Everyone’s Talking Case and Teddy and Here I am Still Hoping that Sam Can Lead us to the Promised Land…
Joe Johnson
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The Vikings may be one of the larger surprises in the NFL this season as they weren’t picked by many (National) pundits to do much after blowing a 5-0 start to the 2016 season and ending 8-8 and missing the playoffs. Now, anyone who actually pays attention to this team had to be excited knowing that the 2017 Vikings were going to have their starting 11 back on defense, a returning quarterback that broke the NFL single season record for completions, arguably the best wide receiver duo in the league in Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen returning, an actual running game thanks to rookie Dalvin Cook and the new acquired Latavius Murray and an offensive line that was completely overhauled in the off-season. So, when I predicted that the Vikings would go 12-4 many people thought I was just drunk on Purple kool-aid, both locally and nationally, but when the Vikings absolutely decimated the New Orleans Saints on opening night thanks to what looked like the best game of Sam Bradford’s career, there were a lot more believers than there were even a week prior. Then, it all fell apart… Over the course of the next couple weeks, the Vikes lost both Bradford and Dalvin Cook, seemingly for the season, and it was looking dark in Vikings land yet again. However, the team has rebounded thanks to the stellar play of that defense, the surprising emergence of Jerick McKinnon as a star, the continued amazing play of their wide receivers and the just good enough play of Case Keenum to help a team that’s obviously great everywhere else be good enough to beat some bad and injured squads on the way to a 6-2 record (that very well should’ve been 7-1). So, the argument that is tearing Vikings fandom apart is whether the Vikings should stick with the “hot hand” that is Case Keenum or bring back Teddy Bridgewater, who returned to practice the week before last and would be a definite step up from Keenum should everything check out with his surgically repaired left leg. However, considering we haven’t heard for sure really is wrong with Bradford and the fact that he is the best of the three QB’s from an objective skill perspective… I’m here to say that I’m still holding out hope that he will be able to return in a few weeks because I believe that this Vikings team can actually win the Super Bowl if they have Sam Bradford under center. Hear me out.
Now, let’s pretend that Bradford doesn’t have the career ending arthritis in that knee that many think he does. That seems to be the rumor going around Vikings land and while it makes sense (considering the two ACL surgeries that he’s had there and the scary words like “wear and tear” that have been floating around as well) it’s far from the definitive diagnosis and while some think that the Vikings really wouldn’t know whether or not that’s the case unless they did some sort of exploratory surgery and considering they haven’t done that yet you’d think that that’s not what they’re hearing from their doctors. It’s been a strange situation with Sam, as he did return for a half against the Bears a few weeks ago, only to be pulled after being clearly unable to perform at the level they needed for the team to win and for him not to get hurt a lot worse than he already was. But, the fact that they did bring him back (regardless of how it happened) means that Bradford and his doctors were confident enough in his ability to manage the pain that existed to bring him back. You’d think that if it was arthritis that wouldn’t be the case and also that all of this confusion really wouldn’t exist. I’m not sure how they diagnosis arthritis in the knee of a 29-year-old man but you’d think that they could see the amount of cartilage that he has in that knee from MRI’s and considering that’s not one of the concerns they had after his first MRI, it could just be a deep, deep bone bruise that was exacerbated against the Bears and that’ll just take awhile to heal. That’s actually what I think and what I’m holding out hope for because as followers of the site know I’ve never been a huge Teddy guy and while he is a clear step up from Keenum (as stated above), he just isn’t able to bring the threat to the offense that Sam can.
The Vikings have the best wide receiver duo in the NFL in Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. They’re not only great because they make short and intermediate catches but because they make all of the catches a successful NFL receiver needs to make at all three levels. Keenum and Teddy both have weak arms and while Teddy is a bit more accurate than Keenum is he still suffers from a strange release that doesn’t put enough loft under the ball (it’s sort of like a neo-side arm toss, something that Tommy Kramer pointed out when he was on our podcast last year) and because of that he tends to overthrow his receiver or not put the right timing on his passes. Because of that the Vikings have typically relied on short passes with Teddy and while you’d like to have thought that he’d eventually figure that part of his game out, the fact is that he hasn’t played in an NFL game since the Seattle Seahawks game at TCF Bank Stadium. Seems like forever ago, doesn’t it? So, with Keenum and Teddy behind center you’re basically not utilizing what is the most important aspect(s) of the games of your most talented offensive players in a league where the ability to score quickly and from anywhere on the field is extremely important. On top of that, the one benefit that Teddy had over Bradford, his mobility, definitely isn’t a sure thing considering he almost literally lost his left leg and while I’d take a highly accurate deep ball (top three in the NFL in 2016) over mobility, especially with the improved offensive line that the Vikings have shown this season, the fact is that we really don’t know how mobile Teddy is going to be when he returns (or really ever).
But this is a Vikings team that has been winning comfortably the past few weeks with Case Keenum at the helm. With an offense that has struggled to get going early and has basically been a team that gets the “Tale of Two Halves” cliche thrown at them a lot. Imagine if they had a healthy Bradford playing? They’d definitely be 7-1, Diggs and Thielen would be doing even better than they are in the stats and the Vikings would be the definition of a pick your poison team thanks to the play of McKinnon and Murray at the running back position and a receiver in Michael Floyd that could be a bigger part of the offense if the team had a QB that could get the ball down the field. This defense is going to keep this team in most games and it’s proven that so far this season and so it’s really only a matter of how far the QB is going to take that defense. Hopefully by the end of the season with the Packers being out of the division race, the Vikes will be able to bring back Bradford with a week or two before the playoffs (or even their first round Bye in the playoffs) to shake off any rust and then they’ll be able to tackle the rest of the NFC. If not, it could still be a great season and perhaps Teddy could bring enough to the table to get them there too. I just fear that with the rust, the lack of mobility from his injury and his history as an iffy-down the field passer that he might actually be a step down from Keenum (who is elite at escaping pressure). Teddy has shown that he is clutch in his short career, though, which could come in handy but it would be nice for the Vikings to have all hands on deck in the playoffs and as far as I’m concerned the best QB they have on their roster is Sam Bradford and considering how the rest of the team is playing it definitely feels like there’s potential for something special to happen. We just need luck on our side, FOR ONCE, and for that knee to heal long enough for him to make a run at a ‘ship in Minneapolis.