Teddy Bridgewater, Northwestern Miami Advance to Florida 3A State Championship Game

Former NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is one win away from becoming a state champion in Florida.

As a high school football coach.

Kyle T. Mosley of Sports Illustrated noted Sunday that Bridgewater led the Northwestern Miami Bulls to the Florida 3A State Championship game with a dominant 40-0 victory over No. 2-ranked Eau Gaille. This is Bridgewater's first season as head coach, and a game against Raines is all that stands in his way from becoming a state champ.

Bridgewater is coaching at his alma mater and wasted no time leading the program to success, especially in these playoffs.

According to Mosley, Northwestern Miami has outscored its opponents by 216 points at 228-12 in four playoff games. Two of the wins came via shutout, which is a notable defensive accomplishment for someone who played on the offensive side of the ball during his playing career.

The Bulls will face Raines on South Dade Kia Field at Pitbull Stadium for the title on Saturday.

Bridgewater was a 4-star prospect in the class of 2011 coming out of Northwestern Miami, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He ended up choosing Louisville for college and was eventually a first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2014 NFL draft.

The 2015 Pro Bowler played for the Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions during his career and went 33-32 as a starter. He last appeared in a regular-season game during the 2023 campaign for Detroit.

Bridgewater threw for more than 3,000 yards three times in his career, although he finished in the NFL as a backup quarterback.

He has turned to the coaching profession during retirement and is one win away from already being able to call himself a champion.