National Football League

Vikings' Bridgewater vows to 'learn from' poor performance against Lions

Published Oct. 12, 2014 6:11 p.m. ET

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater took the Twin Cities by storm in his first career start for the Minnesota Vikings two weeks ago.

The first-round pick out of Louisville burst onto the scene with his first career start against the Atlanta Falcons in late September, throwing for over 300 yards to lead Minnesota to a win as the home crowd -- some wearing his No. 5 jersey -- chanted his name.

In that game, an ankle injury sidelined him and sent a wave of panic over the state after fans had instantly taken to their new quarterback. The injury forced Bridgewater to miss the Vikings' game against rival Green Bay, and watching Christian Ponder at quarterback made fans long even more for the rookie.

Perhaps a performance like the one Bridgewater had Sunday will silence the chants of "Teddy! Teddy!" for at least a moment. Bridgewater was 23-for-37 for 188 yards and three interceptions as Minnesota fell 17-3 to the visiting Detroit Lions.

It's hard to pin all the blame on the young quarterback, who was sacked eight times by a swarming Lions defense. Still, his performance was a letdown after he looked so poised and confident in his first career start.

"It was very disappointing because we expect a lot of ourselves and I expect a lot of myself also," Bridgewater said after the loss." It was just one of those days we needed to show up and we didn't."

Added head coach Mike Zimmer: "I have high expectations for him as well. I think he can do better."

The first of Bridgewater's three interceptions came at a bad time, and the blame for that one can be pointed solely at the quarterback. With Minnesota driving after the Lions scored a touchdown on the opening drive, Bridgewater looked to the end zone on 1st-and-10 from the Detroit 15-yard line.

The pass was thrown into double coverage, and Lions safety Glover Quin came away with the ball and ran it back to the 18-yard line. It killed any potential momentum the Vikings hoped to gather early. Late in the first half, Bridgewater dumped a short pass to running back Matt Asiata over the middle. The ball bounced off Asiata's hands and right into the waiting arms of Lions linebacker Tahir Whitehead near midfield.

Like his second pick, the onus for Bridgewater's third interception wasn't entirely on him. Facing a 3rd-and-2 from the Lions 46 on Minnesota's first drive of the third quarter, Bridgewater's pass intended for Cordarrelle Patterson was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Whitehead again.

In a game in which Minnesota's offense struggled to move the chains, those three turnovers did nothing to help the cause.

"The first interception was just a poor decision. I have to see the safety when he's back there," Bridgewater said. "The other two you can't control. You can't control a batted ball and you can't control a ball that goes off a guy's hand. Everything happened so fast. For me, I could be better, whether it's ball placement or the trajectory of my passing. It's a situation that I can learn from."

The Vikings knew they'd be in for a long day against a Lions defense that has surrendered the fewest yards and second-fewest points per game of any team this season. But after Bridgewater wasn't sacked at all -- and was only hit once -- in his first career start, Sunday's eight sacks took their toll on him.

Bridgewater wasn't about to blame his offensive line for allowing the Lions defense to get to him so frequently. Instead, he pointed out things he could do to avoid some of the pressure.

"Those guys do a great job up front of trying to protect the quarterback," Bridgewater said. "I think I could help those guys out by getting rid of the ball faster, not holding onto the ball and just playing faster."

Two career NFL starts is hardly enough to project what kind of quarterback Bridgewater will be, but the Vikings still think he can be their quarterback of the future. He tasted success in his first go-round as the starter, and now Bridgewater knows how hard it can truly be to win in this league, a lesson taught to him by the Lions defense.

As the Vikings look to regroup after falling to 2-4, so too does their quarterback.

"We can nitpick at this stuff but there were a lot of people that could have done better, including him," Zimmer said of Bridgewater. "He's going to have ups and downs. We just got to make sure that we keep him upright so that he doesn't get, so he can continue to improve each week."

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