Former Broncos QB wins first game as high-school coach

Teddy Bridgewater spent 10 years — including one as the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos — earning near-universal acclaim as a locker-room leader. During the 2021 season, Bridgewater was not just a Broncos team captain, but he became the first offensive player to win the Darrent Williams Good Guy Award.

So, it came as no surprise that when Bridgewater retired after the 2023 season, he wanted to keep leading and influencing. He returned to his high-school alma mater, Northwestern H.S. in Miami, as the school’s head coach.

The coaching debut of Teddy Bridgewater was a promising one, as his Bulls clobbered the (Miami) Palmetto H.S. Panthers, 42-7 on Saturday. All of Northwestern’s points came during a first-half onslaught.

What a start for head coach Teddy Bridgewater👏 pic.twitter.com/xmfcA3L7W3

— Rivals (@Rivals) August 18, 2024

The game didn’t technically count; it was an exhibition game, part of a “Kickoff Classic” series of games played in South Florida.

Bridgewater’s commitment to his high school has been deep. He would return and catch games during bye weeks in his NFL career, and he frequently donated to the program, to the point where the football field on which the school plays its games was rechristened Teddy Bridgewater Field 13 months ago.

HOW TEDDY BRIDGEWATER GOT TO THIS POINT

Teddy Bridgewater spent his final two NFL seasons as a backup quarterback.

After firing coach Vic Fangio and hiring Nathaniel Hackett, the Broncos elected to not bring back Bridgewater. He signed with Miami as a backup to Tua Tagovailoa, but suffered a concussion and an elbow injury that year. Bridgewater then moved on to Detroit for a final season as a backup to Jared Goff.

Denver went 7-5 in games that Bridgewater started and played to the finish during what would be a 7-10 season. He left two games early due to concussions, the second of which ended his season three games early. He posted the highest passer rating for a Broncos quarterback to start at least two games in a season since Peyton Manning in 2014.

Bridgewater also played two seasons in New Orleans — including a successful 6-game stint as a starter in place of the injured Drew Brees in 2019, as well as a 2020 campaign in Carolina that was set up by his work as a reserve QB under then-coach Sean Payton. He began his career by spending four seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, who made him a first-round pick in 2014. Bridgewater guided Minnesota to an NFC North title in 2015 before suffering a horrific leg injury in practice in August 2016 that sidelined him for nearly two full seasons and permanently altered the arc of his career.

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