Vikings wonder 'what if' as Teddy Bridgewater returns Sunday

Between grueling rehabilitations of their shredded knees, Dalvin Cook and Teddy Bridgewater sat inside the Winter Park training room last fall and talked about a day when they would both be healthy and scoring touchdowns for the Vikings.

What might have been.

There are plenty of story lines heading into Sunday's NFC playoff rematch between the Saints and Vikings, but none altered the Vikings' course more than the Aug. 30, 2016, practice where Bridgewater suffered a gruesome knee injury that he turned into an inspirational NFL comeback.

Bridgewater returns to U.S. Bank Stadium this weekend as the backup to future Hall of Famer Drew Brees. It's the first time he will be an opponent of the franchise that drafted him to be a franchise quarterback.

Cook wonders about their dreams, the one where two Miami-born kids take the NFL by storm together.

"Because back in high school, we were rivals," Cook said Thursday. "The best in the city, best to come out of Miami. So, just to put it all on one team — it was always a dream. Like, what could we do?"

They will never know.

Instead, he left when his contract expired after last season, signing with the Jets before they traded him to New Orleans near the end of training camp.

"I thought he'd be the quarterback for the rest of my career," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. "I love the kid. I love his nature, competitiveness, everything about him."

Upward of five ligaments were damaged in Bridgewater's knee, which is the extent Cook confirmed he heard about the injury.

The play — a simple drop back halted by an unlucky step — was wiped clean from players' iPads that typically house all practice and game film. Only Bridgewater kept the play, Cook said. Last fall, he tried to show Cook, who told his friend he had no interest in seeing it.

"That's how bad it was," Cook said.

But the final two-minute drive before halftime, when Bridgewater connected on three consecutive passes for 68 yards and a touchdown, became the ultimate examples of what could have been. His last throw as starter was a dart over the middle to Rudolph for a 27-yard touchdown, just above the outstretched hand of a Chargers linebacker.

"He made three of the best throws I've ever seen in this league," Rudolph said.

Kentrell Brothers, a rookie linebacker in 2016, recalled a different watermark of Bridgewater's rise. In the first quarter of that exhibition, he planted a healthy left knee at the 40-yard line and juked Chargers safety Adrian Phillips during a 22-yard run that left fans and teammates in awe.

"That's when I'm like, this man Teddy," Brothers said. "This man Teddy is that deal."

The heights made the fall more gut-wrenching.

The comeback has been just as inspiring.

Bridgewater left lasting impressions on his former Vikings teammates. They watched up close as he smiled his way through the 2017 offseason, culminating in his brief return during a Week 15 game against the Bengals.

They've watched from afar as he left and put together a strong preseason for the Jets, so much so the Saints sent a third-round pick to New York as they sought backup and succession plans for the 39-year-old Brees.

Bridgewater returns to Minnesota again waiting for his chance behind a player who has started 240 of the past 243 games.

New Orleans coach Sean Payton was asked if Bridgewater was the heir apparent to Brees.

The Vikings gave free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins a big contract before this season, but there are still those who think about Bridgewater and wonder, what if?