Vikings QB Sam Bradford aggravates injury

Sam Bradford returned to the Minnesota lineup for a short period Monday night before aggravating his knee injury.

Minnesota Vikings fans had to be excited when they learned earlier this week that QB Sam Bradford would be back in the lineup. After all, Bradford was dynamite in his lone game before this. Granted, it came against the New Orleans Saints but the Vikings offense was humming in Week 1. They needed a lift with the loss of RB Dalvin Cook to an ACL injury. Unfortunately for them, Bradford was not nearly healthy enough to provide a spark.

Head Coach Mike Zimmer talked about when Bradford potentially aggravated his knee after the game.

"“He aggravated his injury when he got tackled on one of the plays,” Zimmer said of Bradford. “I just thought it was best for him that we got him out of there. He didn’t want to come out. He wanted to stay in there and fight but I didn’t want to get him injured anymore.”"

NFL players will almost always want to play when they’re hurt so Zimmer saying Bradford had that same attitude isn’t surprising. However, there’s a line between playing hurt and playing with an injury.  Even former Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III chimed in and he certainly knows a thing about being injured when he shouldn’t have been in the game.

It seemed fairly clear from the start of this game that he was not healthy enough to play NFL football. He looked uncomfortable and couldn’t step into any throw he made. At the first sign of any pressure, Bradford seemed ready to go down so he didn’t have to take a hit. There was a large brace on his knee and he was noticeably limping worse and worse as the first half wore on. It was a relief to see QB Case Keenum take over for Bradford.

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Vikings fans have to be annoyed that their coaching staff would make such a poor decision. It also can’t help that Bradford still has never lived up to his draft position of number one overall, in part due to injuries across his career. Minnesota may have gotten out of Chicago with a victory but they could have changed the path of the remainder of their 2017 season.