Teddy Bridgewater was drafted 32nd by the Minnesota Vikings and was thought to be the most pro ready. Matt Cassel was the starter and the thought was Teddy could learn from Matt as the year went on. Cassel gets hurt and out for the year and the Teddy era began sooner than most expected including myself. If the Vikes would have started out maybe 1-5 or so I could see Teddy potentially get plugged in.
Bridgewater has become in a short period of time the face of the organization and the chants of Teddy are ringing throughout TCF Bank Stadium seemingly each and every home game.
The man’s numbers are starting to speak for themselves as I show you some numbers and how he compares to other Vikings rookie quarterbacks.
Vikings Rookie QB starts in a season
Fran Tarkenton, 1961 (10)
Christian Ponder, 2011 (10)
Teddy Bridgewater, 2014 (9)
Passing yards by a rookie QB
Christian Ponder vs Denver 12/4/11 (381)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Atlanta 9/28/14 (317)
Teddy Bridgewater vs NY Jets 12/07/14 (309)
Fran Tarkenton vs San Francisco 11/26/61 (277)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Washington 11/02/14 (268)
Passing yards by a rookie in their first start
Todd Bouman vs Tennessee 12/09/01 (348)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Atlanta 9/28/14 (317)
Brad Johnson vs Atlanta 9/08/96 (275)
Passer rating in a game by a Vikings rookie QB
Fran Tarkenton vs Chicago 9/17/61 (148.6)
Fran Tarkenton vs Los Angeles 12/03/61 (121.1)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Carolina 11/30/14 (120.7)
Teddy Bridgewater vs NY Jets 12/07/14 (117.7)
Passing attempts in a game by a rookie quarterback
Christian Ponder vs Denver 12/04/11 (47)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Tampa Bay 10/26/14 (42)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Washington 11/02/14 (42)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Detroit 10/12/14 (37)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Green Bay 11/23/14 (37)
Passing completions in a game by a rookie quarterback
Christian Ponder vs Denver 1/04/11 (29)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Washington 11/02/14 (26)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Tampa Bay 10/19/14 (24)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Detroit 10/12/14 (23)
Teddy Bridgewater vs Green Bay 11/23/14 (21)
Fran Tarkenton vs Los Angeles 12/03/61 (21)
Vikings Passer rating by rookie making 1st start
Teddy Bridgewater vs Atlanta 9/28/14 (98.9)
Joe Webb at Philadelphia 12/26/10 (87.8)
Vikings passing yards by rookie player season
Teddy Bridgewater 2136 and counting
Fran Tarkenton 1961 (1997 yards)
Vikings completion percent by a rookie
Teddy Bridgewater (61.9%)
Fran Tarkenton 1961 (56.1)
Vikings 100 plus passer rating games by rookie
Fran Tarkenton 1961 (3)
Teddy Bridgewater (2)
Christian Ponder 2011 (2)
Teddy has been voted Pepsi rookie player of the week twice this season vs Atlanta and Carolina and is once again up for his third award of the year.
The Vikings have won 6 total and 5 of the games Teddy has lead 4 come backs wins in the 4th quarter or overtime in his rookie campaign. He has 5 wins and 4 of them are comebacks.
Teddy in his rookie campaign I believe of all rookies in the NFL has done the most for his team in helping the team win.
Teddy will write more records for the Vikings before the season is over and my hope is we will not see a new rookie Vikings quarterback for many seasons to come. Teddy is and will be the face of the organization for years to come.
Thanks for reading
Todd Walkingstick
