When a franchise has never won a Super Bowl, as some Vikings fans might be aware is the case in Minnesota, there is a tendency to ask "what if?" about particular moments in history.
One of Washington QB Taylor Heinicke's 'dumbest mistakes' part of sequence that altered Vikings history
His injury in 2016 created a sense of urgency to trade for Sam Bradford after Teddy Bridgewater's injury.
November 4, 2022 at 4:56PM
A strange fascination of mine, even six years later, remains the 2016 Vikings season — a defining year in their trajectory.
That was the year Teddy Bridgewater suffered a devastating injury late in the preseason. That led to a trade for Sam Bradford. But before either of those things happened, Vikings reserve QB Taylor Heinicke severed a tendon in his left ankle kicking in a window at an apartment from which he was locked out.
Heinicke was an undrafted rookie in 2015 who had showed some promise. If not for that injury, might he have had a chance in 2016 after Bridgewater was injured? Heinicke, now the starter for the Washington Commanders — the Vikings' opponent Sunday — was asked about that this week.
"That was one of the dumbest mistakes I've ever made," Heinicke told reporters. "It was definitely a setback, you know. I feel like maybe if that didn't happen and then Teddy [Bridgewater] blows out his knee, I might've got a chance that year and maybe not have traded for Sam Bradford, who knows?"
The Vikings of course did trade for Bradford. He helped them to a 5-0 start in 2016 before the offensive line fell apart and the season unraveled in a series of missed opportunities and an 8-8 finish (something the Vikings certainly hope will not happen this season, and something Ben Goessling and I talked about on Friday's Daily Delivery podcast).
But that start and a 13-3 record in 2017 with backup Case Keenum convinced the Vikings to go get Kirk Cousins in free agency in 2018.
The years of not having a low-cost young QB (Bridgewater) and the eventual signing of Cousins marked a clear shift in the Mike Zimmer era. The Vikings, with a deteriorating defense, missed the playoffs in three of Zimmer's final four seasons — leading to the firing of Zimmer and GM Rick Spielman plus the hiring of Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
And now here we are six years later, with the Vikings sitting at 6-1, Cousins still the QB in his fifth year here, and Heinicke the opposing QB for Washington — the team that didn't want Cousins and led to him being available in the first place.
That's a lot of "what ifs" to pack into one game.
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