The writing was on the wall earlier this week, when word emerged that quarterback Sam Bradford took all of the first-team reps at practice on Wednesday. That didn’t change on Thursday or Friday, which means (as reported by ESPN) that Bradford will start on Sunday night for the Vikings against the Packers.
From the moment the Vikings swung a deal with the Eagles two weeks ago today, it seemed sensible for Shaun Hill to handle Week One and for Bradford to focus on Week Two, a prime-time christening of U.S. Bank Stadium against the Green Bay Packers.
The concern in Week One arose from Bradford’s ability, or lack thereof, to call audibles and make other adjustments at the line of scrimmage based upon pre-snap looks from the Tennessee defense. With another week to work on becoming more familiar with the offense and the options available if the defensive formation cries out for a different play, Bradford apparently is ready to go.
That’s surely a relief for the Vikings. They made a bold move in the hopes of preserving Super Bowl aspirations. Having Bradford not ready for a key early test against an arch-rival would have undermined the trade.
Now, the question becomes whether the Vikings can find a way to run their winning streak over the Packers to two, which sounds a lot better than pointing out that Minnesota is 2-10-1 vs. Green Bay since Brett Favre helped the Vikings to a sweep of the Packers in 2009.