Ex-Bucs coach: Vikings' Bridgewater is a 'young Joe Montana'

So I wrote a piece that will appear on Friday’s Page 2 (and online later this evening) talking about how nobody knows exactly what Zach LaVine, Teddy Bridgewater or other young players will turn out to be. We can guess. We want to know. But we don’t.

In the mean time, let me share with you a VERY optimistic view of how Teddy might trend in the future. It comes from former Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano, is now in the hot takes game and served up this comment on ESPN’s Mike & Mike program:

“This may be a little bit weird, but I look at Teddy Bridgewater and he reminds me of a young Joe Montana. He’s accurate, he’s just mobile enough to give you real fits and he’s a smart quarterback. He’s got weapons around. That’s why I think his ceiling is sneaky.”

Yes, Schiano just compared Bridgewater to one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.

CBS Sports picked up on it and did make some useful comparisons between the two quarterbacks that backed up Schiano’s later assertion that Montana got off to a rough start and some people questioned whether he was any good.

“The three-time Super Bowl MVP actually went 3-8 in his first 11 starts. During Montana’s first full-season as a starter in 1981, 49ers coach Bill Walsh used the running game to take pressure off of his quarterback: Only 48 percent of San Francisco’s plays that year were pass plays. In that sense, Bridgewater is being used the same way. Through nine games this year, the Vikings have thrown 260 passes, which represents 48.6 percent of their offensive calls.”

That said, comparing Bridgewater to Montana is almost as ridiculous as writing off Teddy because of some so-so numbers. Again: nobody knows.