It's been a year and a couple of months since Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has been able to do real football things on a field. On August 30, 2016 he dislocated his knee and tore the ligaments that are supposed to keep that knee together. Yesterday he was cleared to return to practice by the doctor who performed the surgery to repair the knee. Bridgewater is set to return to the Vikings practice field on Wednesday.
It's been a remarkable road to recovery for Bridgewater. The knee injury was so severe that many figured that his football career was over. Some of the more morbid figured that even his walking around days were over. It's amazing how quick people are to turn to the worst possible outcome. Some reporters even seek out doctors to confirm these dreary possibilities. Doctors talking specifically about an injury that they have neither seen nor treated has always struck me as unethical and definitely unprofessional. Many people seem to be happier when another is falling. Bridgewater just went about his business and worked through the long, painful, frustrating rehab process. When seen he always had a smile. He's finally on the cusp of retrieving his football career.
Now it's time for the Vikings to make a decision. Bridgewater's been cleared to return to practice. The first practice in preparation for Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens is Wednesday. Head coach Mike Zimmer has said that Bridgewater will take part in that practice. That will kick off a three-week window at the end of which the Vikings have to decide whether to activate him from the PUP list and add him to the active roster or place him on injured reserve. The Vikings have said since the summer that they expect their forgotten quarterback to play this season. Last year, nearly all of the talking heads doubted that would ever happen. Some even maintained those doubts as recently as this past summer. He won't be completely back until he's on the field flinging passes in a real NFL regular season game but Bridgewater is steaming toward that game.
Welcome back, Teddy.
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