PHILADELPHIA, PA – NOVEMBER 15: Quarterback Sam Bradford #7 of the Philadelphia Eagles looks on while warming-up before the game against the Miami Dolphis at Lincoln Financial Field on November 15, 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

The Minnesota Vikings’ bright future took a big hit when promising young quarterback Teddy Bridgewater’s knee imploded during a non-contact portion of Tuesday’s practice. For a team with Super Bowl aspirations in 2016-17, this was a devastating blow. The team assembled a young, fearsome defense and Adrian Peterson is still somehow in the tail end of his prime. Bridgewater was supposed to be the string to tie everything together.

With the third-year quarterback sidelined for this season and perhaps beyond, the next man up was 36-year-old veteran Shaun Hill who has never started more than 10 games in a season. Fans were not the only ones worried about handing the keys of a fringe Super Bowl contender to Hill, it turns out the Vikings front office was equally as concerned.

All that hard work spent building the franchise back into a contender was dashed in seconds by a freak accident. It is that sort of sudden shift in reality that can make teams desperate to grasp onto something, anything that might help pull them back onto the cliff’s edge with rest of the contenders rather than risk the free fall into mediocrity.

In their desperate flailing for a foothold, the Vikings managed to grab ahold of the tiniest of ledges Saturday morning when the team announced a trade for Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford.

Bradford may feel like a comforting replacement to some, but this move does little to move the needle for the Vikings in the upcoming season. As former NFL coach Brian Billick pointed out, Minnesota is in fully win-now mode regardless of the costs to the future. But that does not mean adding Bradford equates to winning now.

Bradford has the pedigree of being a former No. 1 overall pick, but his actual career has been average at best. Yet somehow he keeps getting the benefit of the doubt.

In fairness, this is probably the best offense Bradford has ever played in. However, numbers and history suggest he is likely only a marginal upgrade from the likes of Hill. If Minnesota expects Bradford to be a difference maker, they are in for a rude awakening.

Making matters worse, the Vikings paid an incredibly steep price for a yearly rental at quarterback. Minnesota sent Philadelphia a 2017 first round pick and 2018 fourth rounder in the deal. And if that was not enough, should Bradford exceed expectations, it will come at a direct cost to the team’s future.

https://twitter.com/BrianMFloyd/status/772092948028727301

No matter what happens, the Vikings are hedging against their future prospects in a massive way here. Bradford leading the Vikings to a Super Bowl is about the only thing that would make this trade worthwhile, and unless we are really in the upside-down and no one noticed, this is not happening.

Bridgewater will hopefully be back in time for the 2017 season, but by then it may already be too late.

About Ben Sieck

Ben is a recent graduate of Butler University where he served as Managing Editor and Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Butler Collegian. He currently resides in Indianapolis.