Photo / Bruce Kluckhohn, USA TODAY Sports
The 2015 NFC North Champion Minnesota Vikings had high expectations heading into 2016. Still recovering their heart-breaking loss to Seattle in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, the team had high hopes for Teddy Bridgewater, who was coming of his first career Pro Bowl season.
August 30, 2016 seemed like a normal day at Winter Park. Bridgewater was coming of an impressive showing in a 23-10 win over San Diego in the first ever game in the brand new US Bank Stadium and was going through the motions at practice as he prepared to take the final game of the preseason off.
But then, his career derailed.
As Bridgewater dropped back in a non-contact drill, his left knee buckled and snapped. Bridgewater went down, yelling in pain. Players within earshot of the snap were visibly upset. While Mike Zimmer updated the media and the state of Minnesota on Bridgewater's condition, an ambulance pulled onto the field to rush Bridgewater to the hospital.
All-Pro Safety Harrison Smith was covering a receiver downfield when the injury happened. He had his back to the play. He didn't see the injury happen, but he could gather from the reactions of his teammates that something was wrong.
"I thought he pulled a hammy," Smith said. "And then I heard the screaming."
Running back Jerrck McKinnon was in the backfield with Bridgewater.
"I saw it all" he said. "I ain't going to go into it. I don't have any words to describe it."
An MRI revealed that he had a complete tear of his ACL and had suffered other structural damage, including a dislocation of the knee joint. It was later revealed that Bridgewater was lucky that he sever any arteries during the injury because he could have lost his leg, or even his life.
With Bridgewater's career in jeopardy, the Vikings had three options at quarterback: veteran Shawn Hill, rookie Joel Stave, or make a personnel move to bring in somebody else.
The Vikings elected to trade a first-round pick and a conditional fourth to the Philadelphia Eagles for former first overall pick Sam Bradford.
The Vikings, in desperation mode with a win-now team,
drastically overpaid for Sam Bradford
After a Week 1 start and win by Shawn Hill, Bradford took over in Week 2. The Vikings were 5-1 at their Bye Week, but would only win three of their next seven games to drop to 8-8 and miss the playoffs.
Bridgewater would not appear in an NFL game until Week 15 in 2017. After months of rehab, Bridgewater attempted two passes in the Vikings 34-7 win against Cincinnati, a game at US Bank Stadium and a game where the Vikings would clinch the 2017 NFC North title.
He would sign with the New York Jets prior to the 2018 season.
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