It seemed fitting that news of Mike Zimmer interviewing for the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator position came a day after Miami (Florida) Northwestern High School named Teddy Bridgewater as its head football coach.
The association between Zimmer and Bridgewater might not be clear to some, but anyone who follows the Minnesota Vikings knows how inextricably linked the two are in franchise history.
It’s one of the great what-ifs not only for Vikings fans but also those who worked for the organization when Bridgewater arrived as the last pick of the first round in the 2014 draft. Bridgewater’s selection — Vikings general manager Rick Spielman acquired the 32nd pick in a draft-night trade with Seattle — came less than four months after Zimmer had been hired as the ninth head coach in Vikings history.
This was long before anyone knew the defensive-minded Zimmer had limited patience with quarterbacks and saw them more as a necessary evil than anything. Maybe it was because Zimmer’s offensive coordinator, Norv Turner, had a big hand in the decision to select Bridgewater, or maybe it was because Zimmer himself played a role in the pick. Zimmer seemed more taken with Bridgewater than he would with any other quarterback who followed.
After replacing the injured Matt Cassel as the starting quarterback in September 2014, Bridgewater helped lead the Vikings to an NFC North title in 2015 and what should have been a victory over Seattle in the wild card round, if not for Blair Walsh’s missed field goal with 26 seconds in the fourth quarter.
The disappointment of that loss remains with Vikings fans to this day, but at the time the organization had high hopes for the future with Bridgewater leading the way. Bridgewater, like any quarterback, was criticized by some who felt his arm strength wasn’t sufficient, or didn’t like his style of play. Zimmer, however, didn’t care, he liked what Bridgewater provided both on the field and in the locker room as a leader.
The optimism surrounding Bridgewater reached its zenith on the afternoon of Aug. 28, 2016. The Vikings, playing their first-ever game in U.S. Bank Stadium, beat the Chargers, 23-10, as Bridgewater completed 12-of-16 passes for 161 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph that came on his last pass of the day late in the second quarter.
That was supposed to be Bridgewater’s final tune-up for the regular-season opener on Sept. 11 in Tennessee. Bridgewater never got there.
Two days later, during a practice at Winter Park in Eden Prairie, Bridgewater dropped back to pass, planted his foot and immediately collapsed to the ground with a gruesome leg injury. The then 23-year-old had suffered a torn left ACL, a dislocation of the knee joint and other structural damage. His season was over and it was clear his once-promising career never would be the same.
The injury was so shocking that Zimmer called off the practice after 25 minutes as Bridgewater was attended to by the medical staff. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
The Vikings quickly acquired veteran Sam Bradford from Philadelphia for a first-round pick in the 2017 draft and started 5-0 before winning only three more games and missing the playoffs with an 8-8 record. Zimmer’s starting QB list went from Bradford, who was injured early in the 2017 season; to Case Keenum, who replaced Bradford and helped take the Vikings all the way to the 2017 NFC championship game; to Kirk Cousins, who was signed to a three-year, $84 million contract in 2018.
From an outside perspective, Zimmer never seemed to trust Keenum and he had no interest in signing Cousins to a contract that would take away from the ability to solidify other areas of his team, namely defense.
Zimmer’s firing came after back-to-back sub-.500 seasons in 2020 and 2021, and occurred long after Bridgewater had departed as a free agent and led a nomadic football life that included stops with the Jets, Saints, Panthers, Broncos, Dolphins and Lions. Zimmer, 67, spent the past two years at his Kentucky ranch before recently making it clear he wants to get back into coaching.
Both men must occasionally wonder about how different things might have been if not for that awful day in late August. Maybe Bridgewater would have eventually flopped, but the fact Zimmer embraced Bridgewater as his quarterback said a lot about his faith in the QB’s abilities.
Do the Vikings not only get to the NFC title game in 2017, but do they beat the Eagles and become the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium? Does the second act of Zimmer’s tenure in Minnesota not turn into a daily drama, in part because he doesn’t have to work with a veteran quarterback he clearly never wanted?
These are the great what-ifs that will remain exactly that when it comes to Zimmer and Bridgewater. Their names forever linked in Vikings lore, and the news, even six years after they were separated.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com.
