Teddy Bridgewater Heating Up at the Perfect Time for Minnesota Vikings

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater inched the Minnesota Vikings ever closer to the postseason, throwing for four touchdowns and running for another score as the Vikings secured a 38-17 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday. 

Mostly a side dish to Adrian Peterson's comeback season, Bridgewater has come alive and asserted himself as the main attraction the past two weeks. In the process, he's provided the Vikings exactly what they need for the final stretch and into the postseason: a quarterback playing exceedingly well.

Everything is starting to click for the Minnesota passing game, and it started in Arizona 10 days ago. While his final fumble might have tainted the performance, Bridgewater also completed 25 passes for a career-high 335 yards—using a quick, efficient passing game to slice up one of the NFL's best secondaries. 

The success spilled over to Sunday, when Bridgewater was great from start to finish. 

The Vikings' second-year quarterback completed 4-of-6 passes for 59 yards on Minnesota's opening drive, which traversed 93 yards in 13 plays. He capped it off with one of the best throws of his young NFL career, a perfectly lofted rainbow to the corner of the end zone caught in stride by rookie receiver Stefon Diggs for a 15-yard touchdown. 

Bridgewater was just getting started. 

After a Bears score, he found running back Jerick McKinnon for a 17-yard touchdown on third down to put the Vikings back up by 10 points. The blowout was on coming out of the half, as Bridgewater found Diggs over the middle for a 33-yard, catch-and-run score on Minnesota's first possession of the third quarter.

Chicago threatened a comeback, but Bridgewater was having none of it. 

He ran in a touchdown from 12 yards out three plays after Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was intercepted on a screen pass, making the score 31-10. Chicago responded with a touchdown drive, but Bridgewater was again ready with an answer. He led the Vikings 43 yards in eight plays, finishing the scoring drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to fullback Zach Line. 

Bridgewater's final line on Sunday: 17 of 20 for 231 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions and a near passer rating of 154.4. He also rushed four times for 17 yards and a fifth score. 

It was a rare showcase of quarterbacking.

According to Randall Liu, the NFL's director of NFC football communications, Bridgewater became the first quarterback since 1964 to complete at least 85 percent of his passes with four touchdowns, zero interceptions and a rushing touchdown in a single game: 

While not historic, his numbers from the last two games paint a picture of a quarterback playing his very best when it matters most.

Here's a comparison of Bridgewater's first 12 games of 2015 and his last two: 

	First 12 Games	Last 2 Games*
Cmp. %	64.8	75.0
Pass Yards/Game	199.8	283.0
Yards per Attempt	6.9	10.1
TD/INT	8/8	5/0
Passer rating	83.0	136.5

The difference is staggering. After throwing for just eight touchdowns and averaging 6.9 yards per attempt over the first 12, Bridgewater has tossed five scores while averaging more than 10 yards per attempt in games against Arizona and Chicago. 

If Bridgewater can stay hot through December and into January, the Vikings will be a tough outfit for any team in the NFC to contend with. That includes the Green Bay Packers, who will host the Vikings for a division-deciding tilt at Lambeau Field in Week 17 and who could be Minnesota's first-round opponent in the NFC playoffs. 

The Vikings will eventually get healthy on defense, with looming returns of safety Harrison Smith, nose tackle Linval Joseph and linebacker Anthony Barr. With those three back in the lineup, Minnesota can match up and attack using Mike Zimmer's increasingly effective scheme. 

Running back Peterson twisted an ankle and left for the locker room before halftime, but he returned to finish his day with 63 yards on 18 carries. He went more than 1,300 rushing yards on Sunday, and he'll have another rushing title within his grasp over the final two games. 

Peterson and the Minnesota defense have powered the Vikings to much of their success this season. Suddenly, however, the quarterback position is starting to make the kind of big plays necessary for a team to make noise in the month of January. 

Bridgewater is heating up at exactly the right time. 

He came alive in a similar fashion late last season, when he was one of the more efficient quarterbacks in the NFL over the final four games of 2014. He's doing it again in 2015, but this year, the Vikings are relevant in the NFC postseason picture. 

A hot quarterback can take a team a long way this time of year. Bridgewater's resurgence could make the Vikings a scary opponent once the playoffs arrive. 

Zach Kruse covers the Vikings for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @zachkruse2