The Vikings’ Super Bowl Hopes Rest on Teddy Bridgewater
There’s a Super Bowl team brewing in Minnesota.
We caught a glimpse of it last year and if not for a missed-chip shot field goal (DAMN!), we would have seen even more. We could have really seen what this young, immensely talented team could do in the postseason. Though for me, that glimpse was enough. That sold me.
Well, that and their unbelievable roster.
The Vikings’ roster is the Hamilton soundtrack of the NFL; the more you listen to it — and the more historical references and hip hop allusions you pick up on — the better it gets. The Vikings’ roster has the all the young starting talent you could want, but when you look closer, it boasts the extraordinary depth that’s required of a team making a Super Bowl run.
As defenses win championships, it only makes sense to start admiring this Vikings’ roster there.
Headlined by super force Linval Joseph, pass rusher Everson Griffen, athletic marvel Anthony Barr, rookie extraordinaire Erin Kendricks and led by one of the best safeties in the league Harrison Smith, on paper this starting defense is easily top 5 in the league. And I didn’t even mention Xavier Rhodes and second-year corner Trae Waynes in the secondary.
But again, it’s their depth that sets this defense apart from others in the NFL.
Rookie standout Danielle Hunter — who recorded 6 sacks last year despite only playing 36% of defensive snaps — is a backup. Pro-Bowlers Michael Griffin and Chad Greenway are backups. Waynes isn’t actually even set to start as old man Terrance Newman is slated to start alongside Rhodes on the outside (though I doubt that lasts into the regular season).
That’s an absurd amount of depth.
This defense has potential to be top 5 in the league next year and in fact in terms of scoring, they’re already a top 5, allowing only 18.9 points per game in 2015. There’s no reason to think this defense won’t be even better in 2016.
On the other hand, Minnesota’s offense has a lot of room to improve.
It starts with an offensive line that was less than stellar last year, allowing 45 sacks — tied for 6th worst in the league. The Vikings went out and immediately addressed that this offseason, adding tackle Andre Smith and guard Alex Boone through free agency. It also helps that they get center John Sullivan and tackle Phil Loadholt back from injury. This gives the Vikings at least seven starting caliber offensive linemen to shuffle across the line. That’s a nice number to have.
Of course there is still All Day, Adrian Peterson, in the backfield, who somehow, even at the age of 31, is rushing for 1,400 yards with ease. There’s not much improvement needed for a Vikings’ ground game that ranked 4th in the league last year.
Their passing attack is an entirely different story. The Vikings finished 31st in the league last year in passing. A much improved offensive line will certainly help, but moving on from speedster Mike Wallace and drafting Laquon Treadwell to play alongside rookie star Stefon Diggs might be the biggest difference maker.
Don’t be surprised if mid-way through the 2016 season Treadwell is atop the Rookie of the Year candidates. It’s going be a battle between him and Ezekiel Elliott for the crown. You wait and see.
Ultimately though, everything comes down to the quarterback.
Teddy Bridgewater his entering his third season in the NFL, often seen as a defining season in a young quarterback’s career. While Bridgewater has shown flashes his first two seasons, he hasn’t done anything that’s wowed fans or football pundits. He hasn’t put up the inflated passing numbers that have come to be expected in this pass heavy NFL.
But he doesn’t have to. You don’t need a transcendent quarterback to get to the Super Bowl. I believe the Denver Broncos just proved that.
Look at Russell Wilson back in 2013 when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. Wilson wasn’t the quarterback we now know; the guy throwing 24 touchdowns, 1906 yards and only one interception in a 7 game span. He was a game a manager. He wasn’t asked to be the offense. The Seahawks relied on Marshawn Lynch to do that.
With the right team around a quarterback, you don’t need to put up ridiculous numbers to make a Super Bowl run. Hell, Tim Tebow made it to the divisional round back back in 2011 and he did literally nothing until the fourth quarter of games, if he did anything at all.
There’s not a ridiculous jump Bridgewater needs to take in year three. He doesn’t need to magically become a 4,500 yard, 30 plus touchdown thrower. He just needs to take a step.
And it seems he’s been doing just that.
“He just seems to be cutting it loose a little bit more,” Mike Zimmer said of Bridgewater during OTAs. “You know he sees it, and he lets it go. He’s shown some really nice deep balls. He seems like he’s, I guess, matured and he’s more comfortable in everything that he does.”
Now what’s said in the summer isn’t always an accurate prediction of what’ll happen come September. I’m not going to guarantee the Vikings a Super Bowl berth based on how Teddy looks in OTAs and training camp. I’ll leave those bloated promises to the likes of Rex Ryan — who, despite countless grand predictions, has never led a team to the Super Bowl — and LeBron James who promised us all not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7 (though I guess a begrudging high-five is warranted for finally delivering Cleveland a championship. Somewhere RGIII is standing under a Witness poster yelling “It should have been me!”).
The Vikings have a championship roster, and if Teddy Bridgewater takes that next step, could quickly become a serious Super Bowl contender.
