Bell: Teddy Bridgewater is latest change for Vikings
NEW ORLEANS – Football is a game of adjustments, usually on the fly.
Mike Zimmer, who finally landed his first head coaching job this year with the Minnesota Vikings, really doesn't need to be reminded of this. As a coordinator last year, he lost his best player (Geno Atkins) and best cornerback (Leon Hall) to season-ending injuries, and the Cincinnati Bengals still won a division title with one of the NFL's best defenses.
Now the challenge is even more daunting.
The Vikings lost the NFL's best running back with Adrian Peterson facing child-abuse charges in Texas, and placed on a reserve list.
On Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, they lost starting quarterback Matt Cassel to multiple fractures in his left foot.
If it's not one fire to deal with, it's another.
"It's part of the job," Zimmer told Paste BN Sports after a 20-9 defeat against the New Orleans Saints. "But it's not that we like that part of the job."
I doubt that Peterson -- for as great as he's been over the years and just two seasons removed from NFL MVP honors -- will ever play again for the Vikings. Whenever his legal case is resolved, he will still face discipline under the NFL's personal conduct policy.
From a timing standpoint, that seemingly wipes out this season. Next year, Peterson would be due a $12.75 million salary. Given the attached PR baggage, the Vikings might opt to cut their losses. Next year, the team would be on the hook for just $2.4 million in dead money left from the 6-year, $86 million extension Peterson signed in 2011.
While Peterson's status twists, the Vikings got a good glimpse of their next face of the franchise on Sunday with rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater relieving Cassel in the second quarter.
It's tough luck that Cassel's injury opened the door, but Bridgewater's NFL debut was seemingly right on cue, given the drama that has surrounded the Vikings since the Peterson case was revealed.
The last time Bridgewater played at the Superdome, he won MVP honors of the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
He had a good first NFL impression on several levels.
"We didn't miss a beat when he came into the huddle," tight end Kyle Rudolph told Paste BN Sports. "He knew all the play-calls, enunciating those to the guys. That's a tough task, your first time in a game."
Bridgewater – who didn't lead the Vikings to a touchdown, but didn't commit a turnover, either -- had to deal with all of the challenges of playing on the road, including a few malfunctions of the radio helmet.
That's why so many were raving about his poise.
"I wasn't nervous at all," Bridgewater said. "I mean, this is where I wanted to be. Unfortunately, the way it happened wasn't the way I expected."
Bridgewater, drafted out of Louisville with the last pick in the first round, has had a nice rebound since a disastrous campus workout last March sent his draft stock tumbling.
That was the day that Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner shrugged when I asked him about Bridgewater's mechanics and said, "Nothing we can't fix."
After Sunday's game, when the rookie completed 12 of 20 passes for 150 yards, with an 83.3 passer rating, Turner was impressed with Bridgewater's vision and mobility. The arm was rather lively, too, with Bridgewater drilling a couple of strikes downfield to wideouts Greg Jennings and Cordarrelle Patterson.
As for the footwork, he escaped pressure a few times and unlike Cassel – injured after he broke from the pocket and was sandwiched by Curtis Lofton and Kenny Vaccaro – managed to avoid the worst danger. He knows how to slide.
"I knew he'd be ready," Turner told Paste BN Sports. "Now he gets the chance to practice all week and get ready for an opponent."
Turner knows his rookie quarterback might be even more lethal with the NFL's best running back at his side. That was the plan that backfired. Peterson's fill-in, Matt Asiata, averaged 2.9 yards per carry in rushing for 35 yards.
"We're all kind of programmed to keep going," said Turner. "That's about all we can do."
But at least they have a Bridgewater to the future.
Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.