How Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater prepared himself for this day and this offense while stuck in rehab

In the weeks and months following his calamitous knee injury, as Teddy Bridgewater was confined to the drudgery of rehab, he was kept from the football field he'd come to regard as his sanctuary.

"It's always hard when the guys are going to work and you have to go in the opposite direction," he said. "It's like when all the kids are going to PE and you have to go to detention or something like that."

So Bridgewater did the only thing he could do: He studied.

Plenty has been said about Bridgewater's resolve, and plenty more will be said at whatever point the Vikings quarterback returns to the controls of the team's offense, at the culmination of his remarkable comeback from the injury he suffered on Aug. 30, 2016.

Less has been said about Bridgewater's irrepressible study habits. But as the quarterback suits up as the Vikings' backup quarterback against the Washington Redskins on Sunday, one play away from returning to the field, it will be due in part to his ability to digest an offense he's never run in a game.

The Vikings have changed offensive coordinators since Bridgewater last played, installing Pat Shurmur on an interim basis once Norv Turner resigned last November and giving Shurmur the full-time job after the 2016 season. The Vikings' scheme now, Shurmur said this week, shares a "foundation" with what the team ran under Turner (including during the 2016 training camp when Shurmur was already on board as the tight ends coach). It's difficult to imagine, though, that the Vikings would be as comfortable as they seem with the idea of Bridgewater returning to the field if not for the approach he took while he was rehabbing.

Rather than returning to the warmer confines of his native South Florida, Bridgewater stayed in Minnesota to rehab last season, joking with teammates in the training room and poring over game plans with them in meetings. While he was on the physically-unable-to-perform list at the beginning of this season, he would slip on a virtual reality headset to immerse himself in the snaps Sam Bradford, Case Keenum and Kyle Sloter took during practice.

And as it turns out, Bridgewater's return to the active roster comes at a time when the Vikings offense might be friendlier to him than anything he's had in his NFL career.

Quarterbacks — and receivers, for that matter — have more freedom at the line of scrimmage than they did in Turner's offense. The Vikings have been in the shotgun about 55 percent of the time this season, according to Pro Football Reference, after dialing that rate back from 64.6 percent in Bridgewater's rookie season to 44 percent in 2015, when the offense morphed to accommodate Adrian Peterson.

The Vikings are running more of the quick-hitting passes that Bridgewater thrived on in 2014. And if Bridgewater, who was pressured more than any QB in the league in 2015, were to take the field this season, he'd play in an offense that's given up just 10 sacks.

"It's just two different systems. Two different coordinators," Bridgewater said. "But the thing is, this offense allows guys to make plays. [The] previous offense, I think, it was a more down-the-field offense. This offense is a mix of both. I'm excited to be a part of it. I can't wait."

There's an argument to be made that learning Shurmur's offense isn't the first time Bridgewater has had to master a new system in Minnesota, given how drastically the Vikings offense changed from the QB's rookie season to his second year.

Things changed when Peterson came back in 2015, though, and as the Vikings recalibrated their offense around the NFL rushing champion's stated preference to take handoffs from a quarterback under center, Bridgewater found himself stuck at times between a dominant running back and a dogmatic coordinator, whose tight rein on play calls at the line of scrimmage surprised free agents who had come from systems where quarterbacks had more autonomy.

It was Shurmur whose experience with Bradford helped trigger the Vikings' trade for the quarterback after Bridgewater's knee injury last August. And after Bradford was placed on injured reserve this week, following a cleanup of his own left knee, it could be Shurmur who has the system to eventually work for Bridgewater.

"It's a lot different," wide receiver Adam Thielen said of Shurmur's system. "I feel like quarterbacks have a little more control [of the game plan]. Pat does a really good job of listening to those guys and figuring out what they really like to do and what they're really good at."

That goes for wide receivers, too, Jarius Wright said. Rather than in Turner's system, where many receivers stayed in one spot, Vikings wideouts can now line up at any spot in the formation. That's lent some efficiency to the hurry-up offense the Vikings now use, and receivers have more flexibility on option routes to adjust to the coverage of a defense.

"We get to switch up splits and different things like that," Wright said. "If everyone knows what they're doing, you get lined up quicker. I might get caught on this side, and I don't have to run 50 yards to the other side of the field to be where I'm supposed to be. You're not running way over there thinking, 'Man, I can't hear the play.' You get lined up, you get the play, the other guy takes your spot over there and he gets the play. It works out for everybody."

"He hasn't had training camp. He hasn't done anything," Zimmer said. "We're just trying to get him to where everybody feels comfortable with him."

So for now, Bridgewater enters a game as a backup for the first time since his rookie year. "I'm going to continue to be the second pair of eyes on the sideline for [Keenum], motivate him and cheer guys on," he said.

Should the Vikings need Bridgewater on Sunday, though, Wright doesn't feel like the quarterback will be that far off his peak.

"He eliminated some of the being behind by staying attentive and paying attention to what was going on," Wright said. "That helped him be, not exactly where we are, but not too far behind. I didn't expect anything less from him.

"Some guys just hate working; he's one of the guys that enjoys working. He enjoys his job, waking up, doing what he loves each and every day."

"I tell myself I can't lay down to go to sleep without maximizing each day," he said, "whether it's mentally preparing myself, physically preparing myself, just doing everything I can do to be the best version of Teddy I can be."