When Teddy Bridgewater went down and was taken to the hospital just 10 days before the Minnesota Vikings season started, immediate fear rose about Bridgewater's NFL career. He underwent surgery and the timetable after seemed to be he could return for the 2017 season, likely in the regular season, but Bleacher Report's Jason Cole has indicated a far grimmer window.

Cole reported on Friday that a Vikings source told him Bridgewater's recovery has the best case results of a full recovery to take around 17-19 months, which would put him out for the 2017 season and eat deep into the 2018 offseason.

While this has not been reported elsewhere, Vikings' coach Mike Zimmer would not give a clear update on Bridgewater's status at his press conference to end the season and said Bridgewater was still without a timetable to return.

The 24-year-old quarterback is slowly in the process of coming back from a torn ACL and dislocated kneecap and as Minnesota plays it safe with him, it simply secures the fact that Sam Bradford will at least start the 2017 season as the Vikings starting quarterback and could hold that job until 2018. This season, Bradford set the single-season completion mark at 71.6 percent, but was far from a high-quality NFL starter.

In order for Minnesota's offense to improve, they will need to significantly improve the offensive line this season, see development from last year's first-round pick Laquon Treadwell and have the running game turn around.