Craig: Turner-Bridgewater tandem in it for long run

Coffee in hand and a typical spring in his 62-year-old step, Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner walked into a team meeting area, sat down and talked about the future he envisions for 22-year-old quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, the Vikings offense and a coordinator who had just completed his 40th season as a football coach.

It's hard to quantify and rank the importance of all that Turner spoke about Monday, the day after the Vikings finished 7-9, but from this viewpoint, nothing sits higher on the list than Turner expressing his commitment to the Vikings for at least two more seasons.

"I signed a three-year contract when I came in here," Turner said. "So I'm kind of a guy who when I make a commitment, you believe in it. This was a demanding year, a challenging year. But it was a lot of fun. I like working with [coach] Mike Zimmer. … We can build something here that can be good for a long time."

Statistically speaking, you can say the Vikings fell from 14th in points per game (24.4) last year to 20th (20.3) this season. You can say they dropped from 13th in yards per game (344.3) to 27th (315.5). But you would be spewing numbers with careless disregard for meaningful context or the marked improvement in December.

In Turner's first season of implementing his detailed offense, he used 24 different starters, including eight offensive linemen and three quarterbacks. A rookie quarterback started 12 games, only two opening-day starters played all 16 games and, oh yeah, the man around whom the offense was built, Adrian Peterson, played only one game, a 34-6 road victory over a Rams team that beat Seattle and Denver in the same building.

"When you're involved in installing a new system and playing as many guys as we did, it's a challenging deal," Turner said. "But our message to the guys [Monday] was my experience is the second year of being in this system, you have a chance to really improve a great deal. I think people saw that if you look at what we did after the first Chicago game [on Nov. 16]."

Turner was Cowboys offensive coordinator when Dallas improved offensively from 1991 to 1992. He was head coach of the Redskins when that happened from 1994 to 1995 and head coach of the Chargers when it happened from 2007 to 2008.

It didn't happen with him as offensive coordinator in Miami from 2002 to 2003 or as Raiders coach from 2004 to 2005. So no system, not even one as proven as this one, is foolproof.

Staying the course

The larger point is that Bridgewater has a good chance of being in the same system for at least the first three years of his career. Then, assuming enough progress is made to keep the Zimmer regime afloat, Turner said he will assess his future again after the 2016 season.

"I think being in the same system is the whole key," Turner said. "You get better by doing the same things over and over and over again in this league."

Turner mentioned Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as guys who are able to make quick decisions because they've been in the same systems their entire careers.

"It becomes second nature," Turner said. "That's what you'd like to have for Teddy in Year 4. You'd like for it to be where he runs the show. He knows what you're going to call before you call it. We had that with Philip Rivers in San Diego. That's when you got a chance to be really great."

In the six games after the first Bears game, the Vikings averaged 24 points and 342.5 yards per game. In December, Bridgewater ranked first in the league in average yards per attempt (9.18), second in completion percentage (72.3) and fourth in passer rating (99.8). Meanwhile, the team ranked 12th in net yards and seventh in net passing in December.

"I don't think we really found an identity until after that first Chicago game," Turner said. "Teddy has all the key characteristics to be an upper-echelon quarterback in this league. He really impressed me with how he played this year and how he continued to improve."

Offseason focus

Turner said Bridgewater's offseason priority is a weight training program that will build enough strength to withstand the punishment of a 16-game season.

"He has a good enough foundation as far as his passing that I don't want him to go with one of these quarterback gurus, because I don't want them to undo what we've done with him," Turner said. "We'll put training tapes together for him to work on. … It's unfortunate that these new rules don't allow you to be as good as you could be. We used to get a lot more work with individuals. Take a guy and work with him and help him improve."

Meanwhile, Turner will use the offseason time away from the players to self-evaluate and tweak an offense that has been unfolding for 30 NFL seasons.

"I've been fortunate that I've been healthy," Turner said. "I think 62 is young now. People think of it sometimes as being older, but the thing that holds you back is some guys end up having health problems.

"I've been lucky. I've been healthy for the most part. And if you're healthy and you enjoy it, you keep doing it."

Mark Craig • mark.craig@startribune.com