Teddy Bridgewater hurt suffers significa
The ' season might've just ended -- in late August, during practice, and le s than two weeks before the season starts. That's because the one player they couldn't afford to lose, quarterback , suffered a serious injury.CBS Sports Insider Jason La Canfora reports that the team is fearing a season-ending injury. At a pre s conference, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer admitted that it was a po sibility. He added Walt Weiss Jersey that a sedated Bridgewater is undergoing an MRI at the hospital."Teddy suffered a significant knee injury," an emotional Zimmer said. "We don't know the extent of it yet. He's going through tests at the hospital."According to multiple reporters at Vikings practice, Bridgewater went down in the pocket with The team immediately stopped practice as His teammates began . Roughly 10 Dave Henderson Jersey minutes later, Ambulance arrives at Winter Park after Bridgewater goes down with injury in practice. Shari L. Gro s (@ShariStrib) If the injury is season ending, then the Vikings' hopes are all but over. Entering the year, the Vikings figured to compete with the for the NFC North title. Their roster featured a promising, young third-year quarterback in Bridgewater, arguably the NFL's best running back in , a blo soming, young receiving crops, and a nasty defense led by Zimmer.Without Bridgewater, though, the Vikings won't be able to take down the top teams in the conference. They won't keep pace with the Packers, based on simulations run by The team might be built around its defense and running game -- and that might still be enough to beat bad teams -- but Bridgewater would've put them over the top. Last season, he completed 65.3 percent of his pa ses, threw le s than 10 picks, and posted Catfish Hunter Jersey an 88.7 pa ser rating. In this year's preseason, he was second-highest graded quarterback. This was, up until now, supposed to be the year Bridgewater turned the corner. Now, the Vikings will be forced to ride with a 36-year-old Shaun Hill, or scour the free-agent and trade market for a better candidate. offensive coordinator Norv Turner has previously worked with quarterbacks like , , and , but acquiring any of those quarterbacks would require a trade and, frankly, none of them are talented enough to adequately fill in for Bridgewater. And it seems unlikely that Ca Terry Steinbach Jersey sel and Ponder would be onboard with a second stint in Minnesota. Weeden, however, might be available if he's cut by the after failing to win the No. 2 spot behind , but he'd then be forced to learn a new offense in le s than two weeks. It's a bad list. given the ' crowded quarterback room and but again, neither of them are realistic solutions for the problem. The Chargers cut Zach Mettenberger, but he's Zach Mettenberger. There's also the po sibility of a trade for a more-established backup like or Mike Glennon, but they won't come cheap. There is no solution to the problem. Whichever route they choose, they're doomed. According to SportsLine, their chances of winning the division drop from 27.8 percent to 11.6 percent. Their playoff chances take a huge hit. Their Super Bowl chances are sunk Jed Lowrie Jersey .If Bridgewater is out for the long-term, the Vikings are done, unle s Peterson manages to pull off another 2,000-yard season and drags them into January.