Former Vikings QB appearing in final NFL regular season game on Sunday

If Detroit Lions quarterback Teddy Bridgewater stays true to his word, his final regular-season game will take place against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

On Sunday, Teddy Bridgewater will jog onto the turf inside Ford Field as the No. 2 quarterback for the Detroit Lions for the team's Week 18 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.

Back in December, Bridgewater shared with the Detroit Free Press's Dave Birkett that he is going to retire from the NFL whenever the Lions' season comes to a close. But with Detroit having already clinched the NFC North title and a playoff spot, his official final appearance on an NFL field won't be happening on Sunday.

However, based on what the former Vikings draft pick revealed last month, this weekend's game against his old team will be the final regular-season appearance of his pro football career.

NFL career for Detroit Lions QB Teddy Bridgewater to come full circle in Week 18 vs. the Minnesota Vikings

After the first 31 picks in the 2014 NFL Draft, Bridgewater was still waiting to hear his name called by Roger Goodell.

Despite being projected as a first-round selection heading into the draft, it seemed like the former Louisville quarterback was going to have to wait until Day 2 of the event to land with a team.

But before the first round officially came to an end, Minnesota decided to make a trade with the Seattle Seahawks to acquire the 32nd and final pick in the opening round of the 2014 draft.

Soon enough, Bridgewater found out that the trade was made in order for the Vikings to draft him with the final selection in the first round.

The quarterback's name was announced by Goodell, and as the final selection of the night, Bridgewater posed on stage with a purple Vikings jersey and a gigantic smile on his face.

In the years since he was drafted by Minnesota, Bridgewater has had one of the most eventful NFL careers in recent memory.

After helping lead the Vikings to a division title and a playoff appearance in 2015, he suffered a gruesome knee injury during a practice right before the start of the 2016 regular season.

With how destructive his injury was, some believed that Bridgewater would never play in the NFL again. But, eventually, he was able to prove those people wrong, as he was back on Minnesota's active roster in Week 10 of the 2017 season.

After parting with the Vikings during the 2018 offseason, Bridgewater went on to have stints with the New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, and Miami Dolphins before signing with the Lions last year.

When his time in the NFL eventually ends, will his career in the league be viewed as successful? If someone is basing their answer on Bridgewater's career numbers and what his teams were able to do with him as their starting quarterback, the answer would probably be no.

But if someone is basing their answer on him being able to defy the odds by continuing to make a living in the NFL for seven more years after his catastrophic knee injury in 2016, then successful is the only word that should ever be used to describe his career in the league.