DK Sweets wrote:I think a lot of us are afraid that we have a Nick Foles situation on our hands. Yeah, our backup has played really well, but is he the catalyst or is he one of the beneficiaries of other players playing well in a good scheme?
I'm not here to say you're wrong...I see the same things you see. Case is playing just as well ads Nick Foles did in 2014. I still wonder if Teddy couldn't play even better than Case is playing right now if given an opportunity in the same system.
I guess my main concern is that this could end up going like Flutie/Johnson for the Bills in 99, this could be a more extended version of Griese/Morrall for the Dolphins in 72, or this could go like Bledsoe/Brady in 01...it could go any number of different ways. I'm skeptical of anybody saying they clearly see which direction we should move at this point.
EDIT: The Griese/Morrall example is the most interesting situation to me. If you can bench a former MVP, two time Super Bowl champion veteran who won every game he plays for you...you can bench anybody if you believe in your guy. I think this debate is more about how much you trust Teddy than any other factor.
EDIT 2: I did some more research and saw Morrall was pulled for lackluster play. I'm gonna leave my post the way it was for two reasons: 1) Every now and then it's nice to leave a testament for how wrong I can be and 2) if Keenum DOES falter, putting Bridgewater in is not an unprecedented move. Ballsy, but not unprecedented.
It's really interesting, isn't it?
For every Wally Pipp to Lou Gehrig story, there are 100 Nick Foles stories. There truly is no way to tell, although history shows us that the odds are long for Case Keenum to become a franchise quarterback.
And I'm not here petitioning for Case Keenum to be the long-term answer at quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. I'm just presenting scenarios. The team decided way back in the spring not to pick up Teddy's year-5 option. If you could pump Rick Spielman full of truth serum, he'd probably tell you it was probably because even THE VIKINGS didn't think Teddy would make it back. Not only that, the Vikings thought they had a rejuvenated Sam Bradford to man the helm. No matter the reasons, their declining his 5th year option has set up a potential mess here. Case Keenum has led the Vikings to 6 straight wins. He's playing exceptionally well right now. How do you realistically bench him for Teddy Bridgewater at this point? The Vikings can take a 3-game lead with 5 to play by beating Detroit. They are one game behind Philly for the No. 1 seed. The only way you risk blowing all that is if Case Keenum falters or suffers an injury.
If Case weren't playing as well as he is, the answer would be easy. Hand the ball to Teddy. But if Case weren't playing as well as he is, the Vikings probably wouldn't be 8-2.
Now look ahead to next year. Teddy doesn't seem like the vindictive type, but say he decides the Vikings have dissed him by a) not picking up his 5th year option, and b) not giving him a chance to win back the starting job. It's possible he says, "I worked my tail off, stayed in Minnesota, rehabbed my a$$ off, went to every meeting, was the greatest teammate known to man, made it back ... and they didn't let me play!" What then? Is it possible he'd leave? If so, there would be plenty of suitors for the services of a recent division-winning quarterback. "Welcome to the season opener here in Orchard Park, NY, where the Buffalo Bills will start their new quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, the former Viking. The Bills are confident he'll be an upgrade over Nathan '5 Pick' Peterman, whose play reminds us more of Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld than an actual NFL quarterback."
In that situation, Case Keenum might actually be our best option.
Or what if Case defies the odds and gets us all the way to the Super Bowl or even the NFCC Game? Does our collective opinion of him change? Is he still "not the quarterback to get us to the Super Bowl" if he actually DOES get us to the Super Bowl? Cuz I can tell you this ... while Case Keenum might in fact turn out to be Nick Foles of 2013, he is definitely NOT Trent Dilfer of 2000. He's better than that by a mile.
So I guess my point is that short-term is easy. Stick with the hot hand. Long-term ... sticking with Case might be a sticky wicket.