Minnesota Vikings: Sam Bradford’s knee bearing weight of hope

By Cody Williams | Sep 16, 2017

(Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images) /

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford looked like a superstar in Week 1, but his current knee injury is more than a little concerning.

It may have come against the New Orleans Saints, but the effort that Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford put forth in the team’s Week 1 win was nothing short of phenomenal. After having the best season of his career upon arriving in Minnesota last year, Bradford showed it was far from a fluke as he lit up New Orleans.

Bradford finished the night going 27-of-32 for 346 yards and three touchdowns. The former No. 1 overall pick has been much-maligned over the years by many (myself included). And make no mistake, there’s been good reason for that. He’s been injury-prone, too reliant on dump-off passes, and truly lacking leadership as a winner. All of that looked to be a distant memory in Week 1 on Monday Night Football, however.

Also impressive in the win over the Saints was the performance of the Vikings defense. Had Bradford put up those numbers in a back-and-forth shootout, that would lessen his accomplishment. However, the Minnesota defense held New Orleans to only 19 points on the night.

With Bradford showing that type of prowess, Dalvin Cook breaking out in his NFL debut and the defense playing at that level, there was reason to think the Vikings might be a dark horse in the NFC this season. For now, though, the wise move would be to put those hopes and notions on hold.

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Leading up to the Vikings’ Week 2 matchup on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bradford has been dealing with some sort of left knee injury. According the ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, the quarterback has been experiencing “swelling, pain and discomfort” in his left knee. Though the MRI was negative, that’s the same knee in which he’s torn his ACL twice in his career.

With that injury lingering throughout the week at practice, there’s become increasing concern that he might not be able to play against the Steelers. Furthering that worry is the fact that the Vikings called Kyle Sloter up from the practice squad to join Bradford and Case Keenum on the quarterback depth chart.

Granted, this could be just a one-week injury or even an injury where he can play through and doesn’t miss any time. However, given Bradford’s past injury history — on the left knee specifically, too — it’s hard not to worry. A negative MRI when there is still any kind of lingering pain in a surgically repaired knee seems like something that could potentially linger.

And frankly, this injury lingering for any substantial amount of time could be wildly detrimental to Minnesota. Even if you think that Bradford can’t repeat anything close to what he did in Week 1, no one is foolish enough to deny the massive dropoff from him to either Keenum or Sloter. Having to play either of those guys severely lowers the ceiling for the Vikings as a whole.

Minnesota’s defense is good enough to win them games still, and Cook is a welcome addition that at least gives them an option somewhat independent of quarterback on offense. However, without Bradford at the helm, this unit just isn’t scaring anyone. They become far more predictable with far less upside. For a team in a strong division, that’s a substantial issue for them.

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Put simply, the hopes of the Vikings making the playoffs or being a dark horse hinge on Bradford’s knee. It’s clear that things are under wraps right now, possibly because the Vikings are unsure exactly what the deal is. However, what we do know does seem at least somewhat concerning in the short term. If that were to develop into something more long-term, this could be an unfortunately disappointing season in Minnesota.

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