In-Game Improvements, Late Heroics Highlight Teddy Bridgewater's Progression

After a first half Sunday that saw Teddy Bridgewater miss several deep throws and struggle to move the football, the Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback highlighted his individual progression with a smart, efficient second half that concluded with his third fourth-quarter comeback in just his fifth start. 

Bridgewater completed nine of 14 passes for 120 yards over the final 30 minutes, leading the Vikings on three scoring drives. The final scoring drive—a 12-play, 73-yard march that ended with Matt Asiata's one-yard touchdown run—gave Minnesota a 29-26 lead with 3:27 to go. The Vikings would beat Washington by the same score. 

"Sometimes you're going to have some slow starts, but it's all about how you finish the game," Bridgewater told reporters. 

A shaky first half could have drained the confidence of the 21-year-old starter. It did not. 

On the first play of Minnesota's first series, Bridgewater wildly overshot receiver Greg Jennings, who was running down the middle of the field with a linebacker trailing in coverage. It was a sign of things to come. Later in the half, he overthrew a wide-open Cordarrelle Patterson, threw behind Patterson down the middle of the field and had another deep shot to Patterson saved from an interception when cornerback David Amerson was ruled out of bounds. 

The Vikings punted on their first four drives. The offense's fifth ended with a turnover on downs after Bridgewater threw high and incomplete near the boundary. 

The Vikings almost certainly would have gone to halftime with zero points had Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III not thrown an arrant interception to cornerback Captain Munnerlyn inside a minute left in the second quarter. Bridgewater took over at the Washington 46-yard line and needed just four plays—including a 22-yard strike to Jennings and a 20-yard touchdown to tight end Chase Ford—to turn the takeaway into a score. 

Bridgewater attempted 28 passes and averaged less than six yards per attempt at the break. 

	Cmp/Att	Yards	Yrd/Att	TD/INT	Sacked
First Half	17/28	148	5.3	1/0	2
Second Half	9/14	120	8.6	0/0	0
TOTALS	26/42	268	6.4	1/0	2

The rookie was a different quarterback over the final 30 minutes of the contest. 

His first drive featured a 15-yard completion to running back Jerick McKinnon, with an extra 15 yards tacked on after linebacker Keenan Robinson body-slammed Bridgewater after he had gotten rid of the football. He stayed down on two knees for several moments before getting up and completing the scoring drive. 

After Washington had retaken the lead at 20-14, Bridgewater delivered an answer. He completed passes of 13 yards to Jennings and Charles Johnson and also picked up a third down with a short scramble. Asiata ran in from seven yards out after Bridgewater connected with tight end Rhett Ellison for 15 yards one play earlier.

The Vikings found themselves down five points a series later. Unfazed, Bridgewater took Minnesota down the field in 12 plays to produce the winning points.

Among the 12 plays were completions of 21 yards to Jarius Wright on 3rd-and-10 and six yards to Jennings on 3rd-and-5. The final third-down conversion gave the Vikings a 1st-and-goal opportunity from the 4-yard line, and it took Asiata three tries to eventually get the football in the end zone. 

After the Vikings defense held, Bridgewater had his third fourth-quarter comeback and second game-winning drive. Minnesota is now 3-2 over Bridgewater's first five starts, with one loss coming at the gun when the Buffalo Bills beat the Vikings late. 

"Our confidence is very high," Bridgewater said. 

His final numbers Sunday were strong but certainly not spectacular. Bridgewater completed 26 of 42 passes for 268 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. He averaged 6.4 yards per attempt, had a passer rating of 88.1 and rushed for 20 yards.

Numbers won't define Bridgewater's rookie season. Progression will.

Bridgewater has now suffered through difficult first halves against Buffalo and Washington. He responded in the second half of both games. His ability to adjust on the fly and remain confident in his abilities is a testament of his mental fortitude. 

There's also no discounting his late-game heroics. 

	Score	Cmp/Att	Yards	Result
at TB	10-13	5/8	54	FG
vs. WAS	21-26	5/7	64	TD

In his first start against the Atlanta Falcons, Bridgewater engineered three scoring drives in the fourth quarter to eliminate a one-point deficit. He led the Vikings 61 yards in just over two minutes to tie the contest in Tampa Bay last week, giving Minnesota an opportunity to win the game in overtime. On Sunday, Bridgewater completed five of seven passes for 64 yards on the Vikings' game-winning scoring drive. 

Clutch is such a difficult attribute to prove or disprove, but it appears early on that Bridgewater plays his best in the game's bigger moments. 

The Vikings are now 4-5 heading into the bye week. In a difficult division, and in an even more competitive conference, Minnesota is unlikely to realistically push for a playoff bid. It would almost certainly take a 6-1 finish to achieve the near impossible. 

Forget the postseason in 2014. The Vikings are a team fighting for now but building for the future, with Bridgewater's progression at the quarterback position sitting at the epicenter of the entire process. Head coach Mike Zimmer can build a powerhouse defense, but the Vikings will only ever go as far as Bridgewater takes them.

His brief NFL career is only six games and five starts old. Absolutely no certainties can be unearthed yet, but the sample size is large enough to provide insight into Bridgewater's week-to-week progression. 

His deep ball might be a work in progress, but Sunday's win—in which Bridgewater bounced back from a difficult first half and then led the Vikings back a handful of times to achieve victory—was more evidence of his on-the-job development.

The Vikings are winning, and Bridgewater is learning. It's the best of both worlds for franchise and quarterback. 

Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @zachkruse2