LANDOVER, Md. _ The Vikings have won five straight games. They're 7-2 heading into a pivotal home game for their playoff positioning. In other words, they're in precisely the same position through 10 weeks they were the last time the won the NFC North.
Time will tell whether they have the same quarterback for their Week 11 showdown game that they did two years ago.
Teddy Bridgewater's emotional return to the Vikings' active roster, which saw the quarterback in tears during the national anthem as he came back 14 months after his knee injury, ended without Bridgewater seeing the field. It was Case Keenum who stole the show for the first 2 { quarters, delivering the kind of performance that might have buttressed his claim to the starting quarterback job in the Vikings' 38-30 win over the Washington Redskins.
Keenum carried a perfect passer rating well into the third quarter, connecting on a career-high four touchdown passes and drilling deep strikes to Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs as the Vikings posted 28 points in the first half of a game for the first time since Nov. 30, 2014. He ended the day with 304 passing yards on 21-of-29 passing.
Were it not for two throws in the third quarter, the Vikings might not have anything to think about before next Sunday's home game against the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams. Keenum, though, threw a pair of interceptions that facilitated a Redskins comeback.
On the first, Keenum threw a late pass off his back foot for Kyle Rudolph, and D.J. Swearinger intercepted it to set up a long Redskins drive. That drive would end with a fourth-down stop after Brian Robison batted down a Kirk Cousins pass, but on Keenum's next throw, Swearinger jumped an out route intended for Rudolph and took it back to the Vikings' 2 before fumbling out of bounds.
Coach Mike Zimmer told Fox's broadcast crew in a Saturday night production meeting that "Teddy Bridgewater will be our quarterback at some point," and the Vikings' decision figures to consume plenty of airtime as they prepare for the Rams.
Even with its warts, though, Keenum's performance helped the Vikings win in a building where they've struggled in recent years, on a day where the Redskins moved the ball more effectively than any team has this season against Minnesota's defense.
The Redskins became the first team to score more than 26 points this season against the Vikings, putting up 17 in the first half. Kirk Cousins hit Maurice Evans for a sensational 36-yard touchdown on the practice squad pickup-s first NFL catch. He later hit Chris Thompson for 27 yards off a wheel route, as Eric Kendricks slipped in coverage.
Washington ended the day with 394 yards, the most any team has posted against the Vikings this season. After the Redskins pulled within eight in the third quarter, though, Keenum directed a seven-minute drive that ended in Kai Forbath's 53-yard field goal. The Redskins got within eight one more time, only to have their final onside kick attempt trickle out of bounds.
