Has Sam Bradford already played his final game for the Vikings?

Sunday will be the third straight week the Minnesota Vikings quarterback has to sit out because of a knee injury and his timetable to return is still unknown.

When rumors first began to spread about Sam Bradford missing the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 2 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers with a knee injury, it seemed quite laughable. However, as the time crept closer to kickoff that Sunday in Pittsburgh, everyone soon realized that the quarterback’s injury was in fact legitimate and that he would not be suiting up against the Steelers.

Since then, the clarity surrounding the severeness of Bradford’s injury has been foggy at best.

We do know that the Vikings quarterback has been dealing with a bone bruise in his left knee (maybe). And that a recent visit with Dr. James Andrews revealed that there is no structural damage inside Bradford’s knee.

That’s great, but what does all of this mean?

Well according to Zone Coverage’s Lucas Seehafer, this specific type of injury makes it difficult to predict when Bradford will be ready to play again this season.

"“The best antidote for a bone bruise is time. It can take weeks or even months to fully recover from a bone bruise. The main determinant for returning to play with bone bruises is pain tolerance.If Bradford can tolerate the pain well enough for it not to affect his play or movement, he’ll be healthy enough to return. Zimmer wasn’t lying. He could play next week. He could play six weeks from now. It’ll all just depend on how Bradford tolerates the pain.”"

Cool, so Minnesota basically has no idea when or if they will get their starting signal caller back out on the field in 2017. For someone who is in the final year of their contract like Bradford, an injury like this is the last thing he needed to happen.

Is there a specific matchup that seems ideal for the quarterback to return this season?

After Sunday, the Vikings’ next four games are at Chicago, home for Green Bay, home for Baltimore, and then in London to face Cleveland. Following their matchup with the Browns, Minnesota has a bye in Week 9 before heading to Washington to face the Redskins in Week 10.

The hope right now seems like the Vikings would like to see Bradford back in the starting lineup by their game against the Packers in Week 6.

Minnesota Vikings

If he does not return by then, the chance of him coming back at all in 2017 could be pretty small.

Case Keenum played out of his mind last Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If he can continue to lead Minnesota to wins, the team may not want to mess up whatever momentum they have built up to that point by benching Keenum in favor of Bradford.

The Vikings are expected to have another quarterback available come Week 7 as well. Some guy by the name of Teddy Bridgewater.

Multiple reports have been coming out recently regarding if Bridgewater will be activated when he is eligible to come off the Physically Unable to Perform list after Week 6. Many have indicated that the Minnesota quarterback has been ready for some time now and him getting added to the active roster as soon as the rules allow should come as no shock to anyone.

By Week 7, if Bradford still is not healthy enough, he may not even be given a chance to play again in 2017. The Vikings may just go ahead and place the quarterback on injured reserve to clear a spot for Bridgewater on the active roster.

Next: Which Vikings to watch vs. the Lions

If this ends up being the case, Bradford might have already played his last game in a Minnesota uniform.