'Teddy' holds the key to the Vikings' rise

Around this time every year I'm burdened by an emptiness that directly coincides with the cyclical scarcity of NFL news.

I'm that guy — the one unfulfilled by the U.S. Open and even a highly-entertaining NBA Finals series. Heck, a horse just won the first Triple Crown in 37 years and all I can see is the misspelling of "pharaoh." And baseball? Wake me up when we get to the Midsummer Classic.

I just want pro football to return — nothing else fully satisfies.

But despite a relative dead zone — OTAs and minicamps have concluded, and training camps won't start for a few more weeks — there's still plenty to talk about to fill the void.

When it comes to the Minnesota Vikings, I think an apt place to start is with Teddy Bridgewater. (Frankly, anything is better than rehashing the Adrian Peterson saga.)

With respect to Minnesota's up-and-coming quarterback, there are good reasons to believe a second-year surge lies ahead.

For the first clues, look at his finish last season.

Bridgewater's impressive five-game end to the regular season had him rated, by Pro Football Focus' metrics, as the top quarterback in the league over that stretch. No one should suggest that was actually the case, but Bridgewater's numbers — particularly the easily-workable completion percentage and yards per attempt — show a marked improvement in the season's final month.

I like completion percentage because it's a great starting point — rarely do your top-end quarterbacks do poorly in this category. (Exceptions exist: i.e. Joe Flacco's Super Bowl season/postseason.) Is the ball getting into the receivers' hands? This stat gives you a baseline, but truthfully it's not all that useful on its own.

I like yards per attempt because, like the former, it's simple — but also because it paints a clearer picture of a quarterback's production. Take the total passing yards and divide by the number of attempts. That's your average yards per attempt. Easy peasy. Low yards per attempt mean the passing game isn't too productive, and vice versa.

(It's also the base for two excellent-if-neglected measures — net yards per attempt and adjusted net yards per attempt, the first which takes into account negative plays like sacks and interceptions and the second which folds in touchdowns and interceptions.)

But back to Bridgewater.

Last season he stepped in for injured Matt Cassell midway into their Week 3 matchup in New Orleans. In his first eight games, Bridgewater compiled a rookie-like 1,689 passing yards, with 6 TDs/7 INTs. That included a 60.3 completion percentage, and 6.45 yards per attempt.

In the final five games — where Minnesota went 3-2, both defeats suffered on the road by two points — Bridgewater was another player altogether. He completed a prolific 72 percent of his passes, racking up 1,230 yards to go with 8 TDs/5 INTs. His average yards per attempt in that span ballooned to 8.79. (For what it's worth, Tony Romo led the league last season with 8.5 yards per attempt; Aaron Rodgers was second with 8.4.)

Those numbers weren't very rookie-like at all. The ball was getting to where it needed to get, and with admirable efficiency. At nearly nine yards a pop, this wasn't a dink-and-dunk offense.

Simply put, Bridgewater's late-season ascent — though small in sample size — showed the potential difference between a true, starting-calibre franchise quarterback and the last guy the Vikings pinned their hopes upon: Christian Ponder. To avoid comparisons to the latter, Bridgewater will need to continue to hit his targets at a high tick.

He'll also want life before and after the snap to slow down. Ponder never mastered reading defenses or working through his progressions. Even after just one year, Bridgewater's shown more.

It might be unreasonable this season to expect that same level of efficiency from Bridgewater week in, week out, but it is perfectly reasonable to expect a step forward.

Bridgewater has had a strong spring and summer as a second-year disciple in offensive coordinator Norv Turner's offense, and has reportedly started to gel with free agent speedster Mike Wallace while building upon a strong foundation with third-year receiver and breakout-candidate Charles Johnson.

(In Feb. before Wallace's signing, Turner said Johnson is "far and away our best receiver," a strong vote of confidence for the 6-foot-2, 215 pound receiver with sub-4.40 speed.)

Bridgewater will also have Adrian Peterson in the backfield. You may have heard of him.

Add in a defense that's made significant strides under the guidance of head coach Mike Zimmer, and the budding optimism surrounding the Vikings seems a lot more grounded than it does pie-in-the-sky.

(The Vikings' defense ranked 31st in yards and 32nd in points in 2013, surging to 14th and 11th under Zimmer last season.)

There's more to a winning formula than a strong defense and running game, though that's a good place to start. But Bridgewater is the key to pushing the Vikings from 7-to-8-win mediocrity into 9-to-10-win-or-more playoff territory.

Count only the Arizona Cardinals among last year's playoff teams that got there with sub-standard quarterbacking, and injuries were to blame. In this league at this point in time, it's all about the quarterback.

If Minnesota's picks up where he left off last season, don't be surprised to see the Vikings back in the postseason.