For the last couple Minnesota Vikings games, I’ve been on my personal Twitter account discussing the events that were happening. One of the major topics seem to be rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Even though this season has been a bit of a wash for the Vikings, many fans are seemingly ready to throw in the towel on Bridgewater only 8 games into his rookie campaign.
Nov 23, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback
Aaron Rodgers(12) greets Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) following the game at TCF Bank Stadium. The Packers defeated the Vikings 24-21. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Teddy Bridgewater was thrust into a starting role after veteran quarterback Matt Cassel was placed on season ending injured reserve after breaking his foot during Minnesota’s week 3 game. Since then, the rookie passer hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. He’s only averaging 211.1 passing yards per game this year and has thrown 7 interceptions compared to his 6 touchdowns. To make things a bit more rough, Bridgewater is completing only 60.3% of his passes and averaging 6.4 yards per attempt and 10.7 yards per completion.
In spite of that, there are some positive things about Teddy Bridgewater’s rookie campaign that shouldn’t be overlooked. He has led the Vikings on three 4th quarter comebacks and engineered two game winning drives. He’s playing without Adrian Peterson, has lost his right guard and right tackle because of injury, and his most talented wide receiver isn’t showing up this year (Cordarrelle Patterson).
Still, we’re seeing some pretty harsh tweets about Teddy Bridgewater’s inability to impress fans at this point in his rookie career. Here are a couple highlights:
Bridgewater sucks major butt and when the coaches realize that I will be a happy guy.
— Jordan Taylor (@JorTay22) November 23, 2014
Bridgewater sucks what a horrible throw if your not going to put your heart into it don't play take a seat or take this seriously
— Rob Aase (@Aase21) November 23, 2014
Patience isn’t exactly a virtue of football fans, but they’re kind of right to be frustrated. The NFL is a “What have you done for me lately” type league and Teddy Bridgewater’s play lately isn’t meeting the expectations that were set during the preseason. Still, he seems to have the capacity to learn and adjust from game to game as well as deal with circumstances that would grind other teams to an absolute halt on offense.
What do you think? Do Vikings fans have have too short of patience with their quarterback after dealing with the Christian Ponder era? Or do they see something in Bridgewater that legitimately leads them to believe that Bridgewater can’t succeed in the NFL?
Discuss it in the comments below.
(All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference)
Next: NFL Expert Says Bridgewater Is A Backup At Best
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