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Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback Sam Bradford capped his 2016 season off with a pretty big day in the 38-10 victory over the Chicago Bears. Bradford completed 25-of-33 passes for 250 yards, three touchdown passes, and one interception. Because of the afternoon he had on Sunday, he now holds a couple of Vikings’ records and one NFL record.
Bradford now holds the Vikings’ record for most completions in a season with 395. The previous record was held by Daunte Culpepper, who completed 379 passes during his huge 2004 season. He also has the Vikings’ record for lowest interception percentage in a season, as just 0.9% of his passes were intercepted this season. The previous record (for a quarterback that actually started a majority of the team’s games) was held by Brett Favre, who had an interception percentage of 1.32% in 2009.
Bradford is also just the second quarterback in NFL history to attempt at least 500 passes and have five or fewer interceptions. The only other one? Aaron Rodgers in 2011.
To top it all off, Bradford now holds the NFL single-season record for completion percentage in a season. On the season, Bradford completed 395 of 552 attempts, good for a 71.56% completion percentage. That breaks the record that had been held by Drew Brees, who completed 71.23% of his passes in 2011. Brees has a chance to pass Bradford by this season, but he would have needed a monster game in order for it to happen, and since most outlets don’t seem to think that’s going to happen, we’ll just go ahead and give him the record.
All-in-all, it was a pretty solid season for Bradford. The debate will go on. . .and on. . .and on. . .and on this offseason about whether or not Bradford should be the guy for the Vikings going forward. There really isn’t much of a debate until we know the full status of Teddy Bridgewater and how he’s progressing in his rehab from his knee injury, but that hasn’t stopped anyone so far.
For now, however, Sam Bradford is the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, and given the circumstances he dealt with over the season, he did a pretty fine job overall.