MINNEAPOLIS -- It began as a day full of promise, a sun-splashed October afternoon that saw Teddy Bridgewater returning from a sprained ankle to play his second home game in front of a fan base thankful to see him. His mother, Rose Murphy, handed out pink ribbons outside TCF Bank Stadium and was honored before the game for her successful fight against breast cancer when Bridgewater was in high school, and Bridgewater had every reason to think that he, too, would hear plenty of cheers in his second NFL start.
It ended as a rude indoctrination, a reminder of how steep a learning curve there is on the way to success as an NFL quarterback. For as poised as Teddy Bridgewater had looked in his first seven quarters as a NFL quarterback, for as well as he'd performed when he was pressured, Bridgewater met the great equalizer that's controlled quarterbacks 10 years his senior: a team that can get pressure with just four pass-rushers.
The Detroit Lions did that on Sunday, harrying the Vikings' offensive line with speed rushes and stunts that gave Bridgewater little time to set his feet. They got five of their eight sacks with four or fewer pass-rushers, according to ESPN Stats & Information, bringing standard pressure on 70.2 percent of Bridgewater's dropbacks. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin dialed up a few well-timed blitzes to finish off what coach Jim Caldwell called a "smothering" defensive performance in the Lions' 17-3 win over the Vikings.
Bridgewater threw for just 188 yards on 37 attempts on Sunday, his longest gain of the day a short pass that Matt Asiata took for 18 yards. Bridgewater was intercepted three times (though two of the passes were tipped), and hit a total of 12 times. If Bridgewater looked like a veteran in control of his offense two weeks ago against Atlanta, on Sunday he looked like a rookie for whom things were happening awfully fast.
"One week you can go out and have over 500 yards of total offense, and the next week you can have 200 yards," Bridgewater said. "That says a lot about this league, how difficult it is each week. Nothing is given; you have to earn it all. Today we just didn't do that."
The consistent pressure on Bridgewater certainly didn't help. The Vikings' offensive line had allowed quarterbacks to be pressured on 30.9 percent of their dropbacks before Sunday -- the sixth-highest rate in the league -- and the group had few answers for the Lions' relentless front.
"Look, they've got great personnel, but that's no excuse," center John Sullivan said. "We've got to block those guys. That's what it comes down to."
Still, Bridgewater agreed with coach Mike Zimmer's opinion that the quarterback could have gotten the ball out quicker at times; Bridgewater said he needed to be faster at ruling out covered receivers in his progressions and put some of the sacks on himself, saying he needed to play faster.
He also was fooled on his first career interception, when safety Glover Quin stepped in front of Bridgewater's throw to Cordarrelle Patterson in the end zone. Bridgewater said he believed Quin would follow Greg Jennings' inside route, but the safety kept himself in position to jump a post route to Patterson, taking away the Vikings' chance to tie the game early.
"I have to see the safety," Bridgewater said. "I was expecting him to run with Greg, but he ran to the outside receiver and made a great play."
There will be better days ahead for Bridgewater, as he adapts to the speed of the pro game, but the Vikings dropped two games behind the Lions in the NFC North on Sunday in part because of how effectively they frustrated the rookie QB. Bridgewater wasn't the first quarterback to have that kind of a day against the Lions this season, but Sunday served as a reminder to Vikings fans that he's not immune to them.
"I expect a lot of myself," Bridgewater said. "It's just one of those days where we needed to show up and we didn't."
