After an impressive opening week performance in St. Louis, the Minnesota Vikings have looked awful the past two weeks scoring only 16 points in back-to-back double digit point losses to the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints.
With star running back Adrian Peterson gone for the forseeable future, much of the pressure fell to quarterback Matt Cassel, who struggled to keep the offense afloat. Unfortunately for Cassel things got worse than just a bad performance as he broke multiple bones in his foot last Sunday, and has been placed on injured reserve.
This now paves the way for Teddy Bridgewater, the final pick in the first-round of the draft to take over the starting duties. Heading into his first career start in the NFL, Bridgewater says he feels no pressure via ESPN:
It takes a team effort to win football games and we have 11 guys on defense who are going to play their tails off. We have 11 guys on special teams and 10 other guys on the offensive side of the ball that are going to be out there competing for one another. There’s no pressure for me to have to fill the needs or anything.
Ever since the Vikings took Bridgewater with the 32nd overall pick, most believed it was only a matter of time before he took over for Cassel. While Cassel is a solid game manager, the Vikings clearly had a higher ceiling with Bridgewater under center.
Now that he gets to start without having to worry about being benched, fans will be able to see Bridgewater perform to the best of his ability. With the type of season the Vikings have had so far, Bridgewater represents a ray of hope for the franchise.
