Minnesota Vikings Week 5: Top takeaways vs. the Chicago Bears

A tale of two quarterbacks

As the Vikings offense took the field for the game’s opening series, Minnesota fans were understandably excited to see Sam Bradford returning from injury and back under center.  While Case Keenum had performed admirably in Bradford’s absence, the offense’s ceiling is undoubtedly higher with the former first overall pick taking snaps.

As the first half wore on, that excitement gradually turned into despair as it became clear that Bradford had tried to return from his injury too quickly and his ability was severely limited. By halftime Bradford had turned in a Flacco-esque performance, completing 5 of his 11 attempts for only 36 yards.

Bradford’s decision-making appeared to be fine, but his accuracy was severely affected as he missed several throws that he made look easy in his first performance of the season.  The biggest problem appeared to be Bradford’s lack of mobility. He was sacked on four occasions and gave up a safety by holding onto the ball to long in his own end zone.

The Vikings lost a combined 35 yards on those sacks and after two quarters of play they had gained a solitary yard from their passing offense. Bradford has never been the most agile of quarterbacks, but without the ability to even navigate the pocket, the Vikings’ offense looked dead in the water.

You can fairly question the Vikings’ decision to start Bradford in the first place, but at halftime the coaching staff absolutely made the right call by handing over the reigns to Case Keenum. The difference a healthy quarterback could make to the Vikings’ offense was apparent from his first drive as Keenum marshalled the offense down the field for 75 yards, ending in a touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph.

By the end of the night Keenum had turned in another impressive performance in purple and gold with 17 completions on 21 attempts for 140 yards and a touchdown. The Vikings’ offensive line continued to struggle with the Bears’ pass-rush, but unlike Bradford, Keenum performed admirably under pressure and managed to avoid getting sacked.

Heading into Sunday’s showdown with the Packers, the Vikings face a week of speculation ending in another difficult decision for the coaching staff.  The Packers are impressively ranked sixth in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game and any game with Aaron Rodgers involved has the chance to become a shoot out. For those reasons, if Bradford is able to get notably healthier by Sunday he gets my vote to start.  As impressive as Keenum has been at times, I just can’t see him outscoring Rodgers and a notably improved Green Bay secondary.