PITTSBURGH – When Teddy Bridgewater injured his knee last August, Rick Spielman made a shockingly ambitious move, trading for Sam Bradford. He believed his team was built to win, making Bradford worth a high price.
Although injuries ruined the 2016 season, Spielman was right to gamble on Bradford, who has completed a stunning 72.3 percent of his passes as a Viking.
Sunday, Bradford tested his sore left knee on the soft turf of Heinz Field, then the team made him inactive for the game. Case Keenum replaced him and performed like a quarterback who is lucky to be a backup in the NFL. The Vikings lost to the Steelers 26-9, while managing 167 passing yards despite playing from behind the entire game.
Spielman invested heavily in the starting quarterback position, and white-knuckled his nickels when looking for an understudy. Given that the starter has had two surgeries on the same knee and hasn't started 16 games in a season since 2012, Spielman should have done more than settle. He should have again behaved ambitiously and acquired the best quarterback available to him: Colin Kaepernick.
The Vikings were doomed with Keenum in the lineup. Kaepernick would have given them a puncher's chance.
Last year, Keenum threw nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions before being benched. Last year, Kaepernick threw 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. Kaepernick is bigger, stronger, faster, possesses a better arm and has been a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, where he came within one pass of winning.
The NFL has conspiratorially blackballed Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem to protest the unjustified shootings of black Americans by police.
Some owners don't want him on their team, wrongly conflating a peaceful protest with an attack on our country or our soldiers. Some owners, general managers and coaches don't want the headache of Kaepernick's presence and news conferences.
