What if Teddy Bridgewater had thrown four touchown passes and led a clock-eating seven-minute drive in the fourth quarter of the Vikings' 38-30 victory over Washington on Sunday? Chances are there would be cartwheels turned, confetti thrown and abounding optimism about the future of the team's quarterbacking position -- even if he threw two interceptions as part of his day's work.
When Case Keenum put up those numbers on Sunday, it felt like some people were grabbing on to the interceptions to diminish Keenum's performance, which included 21 completions in 29 attempts, 304 passing yards and a 117.0 quarterbacking rating.
Some of the reaction begs the questions of whether fans are being overly critical of Keenum, and how much of that is provoked by the desire to see what Bridgewater can do at quarterback after the knee injury that kept him sidelined for 1 1/2 seasons.
Some of the reaction is also provoked by coach Mike Zimmer's contention that, at some point, Bridgewater will see time at quarterback for the Vikings. Zimmer has been unsurprisingly coy about when that could happen, although it would likely come down to one of three scenarios:
1. Keenum gets hurt; 2. The Vikings are so far ahead or so far out of a game that it makes sense to give Bridgewater a look; 3. Week 16 of 17 of the regular season if the Vikings have clinched a spot in the playoffs (or suffered some kind of mind-numbing collapse during which Zimmer has stuck with Keenum).
Here are some of the responses when I posed these questions on Twitter:
Here's a back-and-forth between a couple of respondents:
A few more follow-up questions come to mind:
Have the Vikings gotten the best they're going to get from Keenum -- and does that mean a Bridgewater takeover is the best bet for a serious playoff run?
How patient should Vikings fans be with Bridgewater when he returns? How patient will they be?
Are we still getting a bit ahead of ourselves by thinking of the Vikings, even with a 7-2 record, as serious Super Bowl contenders? If so, when will you be convinced?
Feel free to take aim at any of these in the comments below.