It was five years ago today that Teddy Bridgewater was terribly (and a bit mysteriously) injured in practice. Fortunately for him, it did not end his career. But its effect on the Vikings’ franchise: Fatal. IMO this triggered a chain of events that effectively killed the championship hopes of the Spielman/Zimmer-era Minnesota Vikings. Even now, it shows why this team is run by a GM and coach who cannot field a championship team.


Bridgewater’s injury was only the first cut that brought the Vikings low. Rick Spielman waited all of 4 days to assess the injury and its impact before trading for Sam Bradford, who had been discarded by both the Rams and now by the Eagles. “Et tu, Bradford?”


We were 8-8 in 2016 with Bradford throwing 20 TDs and only 5 INTs, and I doubt Teddy would have performed better or won any more games - possibly less. The team self-destructed after a 5-0 start. Due to the Bradford trade, we lost our #1 pick in 2017, which could have been a good player, even at #14.


But Spielman’s decision to trade for Bradford was ultimately much worse. After Bridgewater was hurt, we could have "taken our lumps" and let Shaun Hill play out the season. So we finish 6-10 or 7-9…did 8-8 feel that much better? Then, 6 months after his injury (instead of 4 damn days!) they could look at Teddy's condition. If they doubted he could come back, well...with the 10th pick in the 2017 draft, we could choose between Patrick Mahomes and DeShaun Watson. Hmmm.


Hindsight? Of course. But I’m just a fan. An NFL professional should have looked at the history of making such trades before doing it. If I owned the Vikings when Spielman proposed trading for Bradford, I would have asked how often teams do this to replace an injured starter just before or during the season, and whether it usually worked. Some evidence or proven precedent - isn't that what any rational manager (or a scientist in his lab on Krypton) should expect?

There were some recent examples for Spielman showing when a team did not do such a desperate trade for someone else's castoff. When Brady was hurt in 2008, did the Patriots urgently trade for Derek Anderson? No. Did the Colts panic in 2011 when Manning was hurt and trade their next #1 pick for Kyle Orton? Of course not.


But it has happened, so I searched for NFL trades for a starter-level QB that happened after a team held training camp and decided (for injury or any reason) that they desperately needed a replacement QB.

• John Hadl from Rams to Packers, October 1974: Hadl played two terrible years for the Pack. I know, EVERYONE who played for Green Bay in the 1970s was terrible.
  
• Craig Morton from Cowboys to Giants, October 1974: Morton and Hadl were both traded on the same day...and he also did nothing for the team that acquired him and was dumped by the Giants after 2 bad seasons. When he later played for the Broncos, he was harassed in the Super Bowl by Randy White, who the Cowboys drafted with one of the picks they received for Morton.
• Steve Walsh from Cowboys to Saints, September 1990: This trade was similar to the Bradford trade, as the Saints were desperate because Bobby Hebert was holding out. Walsh got the Saints to 8-8 in 1990 but lost his job the next year. The Cowboys got 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks for him, adding to their draft ammo from the Herschel trade.
• Carson Palmer from Bengals to Raiders, October 2011: This one is even more like the Bradford trade. The Raiders had also lost their starting QB, Jason Campbell, and thought they knew Palmer well because their HC, Hue Jackson, had coached Palmer previously (as Pat Shurmur had coached Sam Bradford). The Raiders gave up 1st and 2nd round picks for Palmer. Their reward? 8-8 the year he arrived, missed the playoffs, and he was off the team after the next season. Sound familiar??

The first observation from this list: it has happened very rarely – which should make anyone ask, “Why do most NFL GMs think a desperation QB trade is a bad idea?” That question is answered by the second observation: It has NEVER worked for the team acquiring a quick-fix QB. The Wilfs apparently did not ask Spielman for a history of these bad trades. If they did, they didn’t ask, “Why do you think you’re smarter than the entire rest of this league?”


But Spielman and Zimmer don’t think they are smarter: they panicked when Bridgewater was hurt. They apparently thought, "We don't have time to see if Teddy's alright and we don't have time to develop a new QB!! We barely have this defense hanging together and don’t feel confident it will last!! We won’t be able to rebuild it for a new draft pick quarterback!!”


Given the panic move for Bradford, it's tempting to think they were on the hot seat already - but they survived the 8-8 season in 2016 that “featured” an embarrassing collapse that would have ended most coaching regimes. It was certainly as bad as the 2010 season that led to the Wilfs firing Brad Childress; in one game, DBs decided to ignore Zimmer’s coverage scheme! Didn’t this qualify as “losing the locker room”? But Spielman and Zimmer clearly had the Wilfs' confidence - or blithe disinterest.


Bradford’s history of infinite knee surgeries quickly ended his playing time, to the surprise of no one except Rick Spielman. But Spielman effectively took the same approach (panic and overpay for a mediocre quarterback drafted and developed by someone else who no longer wants him) by paying ANYTHING demanded by Kirk Cousins. Then he did it again in 2020 with the ludicrous Cousins extension.


I’m not actually saying that Bridgewater’s injury killed the Vikings, or even the Bradford trade. We’re dead because we have a GM who doesn’t trust himself to choose a quarterback and/or find a HC able to develop one. (And the Mond pick was just smoke, folks.) When Spielman brought the inane Bradford trade to the Wilf, they should have known, and been done with this GM and coach within a year of that move. They had every opportunity at the end of 2016 but let it slide. I fear they are asleep at the wheel, watching the massive profits of a mediocre NFL franchise accrue in their bank accounts.


Wilf family, Rick Spielman is sending a message to you in big block letters, and it reads: I WILL PISS AWAY RESOURCES ON THE MOST MEDIOCRE OF VETERAN QUARTERBACKS BECAUSE IT'S CLEAR EVEN TO ME THAT I CANNOT SELECT AND DEVELOP THEM MYSELF!! STOP ME BEFORE I GIVE THE SAINTS 2 FIRST-ROUNDERS FOR JAMEIS WINSTON!!



Like all of us, I want to see a Vikings Super Bowl championship in my lifetime. But I think it’s going to take a hurricane flooding Minneapolis and causing such nationwide sympathy that the league decides to fix a season to throw us a bone – because Spielman and Zimmer will never earn a championship.