Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer talks with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) before attempting a punt against the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth quarter of their AFC Wild Card game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on January 10, 2016. The Seahawks defeated the Vikings 10-9. Photo by Marilyn Indahl/UPI |
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EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is on record as saying he wants Teddy Bridgewater to take another step in his third season. But he disagrees with those who suggest a giant leap is needed for the quarterback who ran the league's 31st-ranked passing attack a year ago.
"I don't know how you measure how much of a step (he has to) take," Zimmer said Tuesday after his team completed Day 1 of its three-day minicamp at Winter Park. "I still go back to great quarterbacks win. That's the thing that this guy does. He's a winner. Can you look up his record for me? Whatever it is, he wins games."
Bridgewater, the 32nd overall pick in 2014, has a 17-11 regular-season record.
"That's pretty good," Zimmer said.
Bridgewater is 0-1 in the playoffs, but his 17 victories tie him with Brett Favre and Warren Moon for the most by a Vikings quarterback through his first two seasons.
"To me, that's the most important thing," Zimmer said of winning. "There's a lot more to playing quarterback than just throwing the ball through the wall. I won't name any guys, but off the top of my head, I can think of a lot of really, really strong-armed quarterbacks that didn't win, No. 1. Didn't take care of the ball and didn't do things right. No. 1 picks in the draft, too."
That's not to say Zimmer believes Bridgewater has arrived at the peak of his career at age 23. Far from it.
The coach has challenged his undisputed starter to "let it loose" in Year 3. To see it, trust it and launch it down the field.
So far, so good, according to Zimmer. After 10 OTA sessions and the first day of minicamp, Zimmer said he can see a difference in Bridgewater's willingness to, well, "let it loose."
"I think we've just focused on it a little bit more," Zimmer said. "There was a play last week that kind of showed me the progression. We had a hard count and one of the guys on defense jumped. We had a play-action off of it and he saw the guy jump, and he said, 'Gotcha.' And then he saw the safety bite a little bit and he just hummed it right down the middle of the field about 55 yards for a perfect strike.
"Those are the kind of things I see that two years ago or even early last year I don't think he would have done. There are other plays like that where he sees the safety bite. To me, he just looks more comfortable and confident in the things that he's doing."
