Hartman: Bridgewater might have turned corner

The Vikings and Jets were in overtime with the score tied 24-24. The Vikings had the ball on their own 13-yard-line with 10:41 left in the extra session. Then came the play that won the game and might go down as the moment when Teddy Bridgewater grew up as the Vikings quarterback.

The Vikings were facing third-and-5, and a punt might have put the Jets in very good field position to win the game. Losing to a 2-10 team would have eliminated a lot of the recent positive feelings for both Bridgewater and the Vikings.

Bridgewater was 19-for-27 for 309 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on a throwaway Hail Mary pass at the end of the half. He had a 117.7 rating, his second-best mark this year.

"We just had a call on that was an answer to beat the blitz," Bridgewater said of the pass to Jarius Wright, which covered 87 yards for the winning touchdown. "And you know Jarius did a great job of finishing the catch-and-run. The offensive line did a great job of getting out front also, setting the whole thing up with Greg Jennings and Kyle Rudolph in there."

That the play call was an audible shows more evidence of Bridgewater's development.

"We just had to see what the defense was doing, and I had the option to check out of the play that was called because the play we were calling, we would have been pretty much unprotected with the blitz they were bringing," he said. "It was just an answer to beat their blitz, and it was one of the checks that came with the play."

Bridgewater talked about the offensive line, which lost another starter in Charlie Johnson, who was replaced by Vladimir Ducasse.

Wide receivers coach George Stewart said that Wright continues to improve.

"Jarius has been here three years, and he's a guy that's our third receiver, and he did an outstanding job today," Stewart said. "The walk-off touchdown was huge, shows his athletic ability and speed. ...

"That was a great play to break the tackle, and he ran down the field extremely hard and got the game-winner for us."

Stewart said that when Rick Spielman drafted Wright in 2012 in the fourth round, along with his Arkansas teammate Greg Childs, the team knew that his athleticism could make up for his lack of size at 5-10 and 180 pounds.

"He has great speed," Stewart said. "That's one thing that Rick Spielman, when we drafted Jarius we drafted him for speed because he's a smaller guy. Rick did a great job of drafting this young man three years ago because of his versatility."

"He has done a great job of studying the game of football," he said. "He has always been fast. He has done a great job with his hands and been a proven player for us.

"His future is bright. He's only in his third year, and he's playing extremely well for us."

It might have been fortunate for the Vikings that Percy Harvin left the game in the fourth quarter because of an ankle injury. He was off to a great start with six receptions on nine targets for 124 yards and a touchdown.

"I'm not looking at it any different than a loss or any other loss,' Harvin said. ''This one doesn't hit harder than any other one. It was disappointing we couldn't come out with a victory."

What was it like going against his old teammates?

As far as the fans booing him, Harvin said: "The fans are going to be fans. I expected it. I wouldn't expect anything different.

"So, to hear the boos and finally get that score, staring [at the crowd after the score] was a pretty good feeling. But like I said, it's just disappointing we couldn't get that win."

Former Gophers wideout Eric Decker also had a strong day, catching six passes for 89 yards, and nearly made a sensational catch of a Geno Smith throw late in the fourth quarter that could have put the Jets in a position to win the game in regulation.

"I thought that we battled through," Decker said. "Again we drove the ball successfully, came up with field goals. At crunch time they made a play. It's tough to lose a game that way, but take nothing away from the fight that we had. The game they played, it took a big one to win it."

The Gophers playing Missouri in the Citrus Bowl puts them in their most prestigious postseason game since playing in the Rose Bowl in 1962.

The Gophers fan base doesn't have a great reputation for traveling, but the game being in Orlando with Disney World as a nearby attraction, along with that the fact that the Gophers posted an 8-4 record, probably will result in the largest contingent following any Gophers team since Clem Haskins led the basketball team to the Final Four in San Antonio. It will also be a great recruiting tool for Jerry Kill and his staff.