Hayes: Bradford leaves town a beaten, angry man

Sam Bradford shuffled out of the training room like an angry, beaten old man.

Carson Wentz ambled out of the shower like a giddy teenager ready for the prom.

It might have been as simple as this: Wentz and his Eagles defeated Bradford and his undefeated Vikings, 21-10. It was a clear referendum on the Eagles' plan to opt for Wentz over Bradford . . . right?

Not exactly. Neither played well.

Hindered by poor offensive lines and a wagonload of dropped passes, Wentz was bad. Bradford was worse; and, he was beaten; and, he was beaten up, sacked six times; and, he turned the ball over three times. Afterward, having walked gingerly to the postgame podium, Bradford shrugged it off as a poor performance in which he had little invested.

"I really don't have any bitter feelings toward Philly," Bradford said. "It's not like I was harboring any of that and trying to come out here and prove them wrong."

That would be a lot easier to swallow if Bradford had not held the team hostage with a walkout and a trade demand in the spring. He offered a few tepid greetings before the game - he treated owner Jeffrey Lurie like a man with a handshake disease - but he was here for vengeance.

Vengeance was denied.

Wentz completed 16 of 28 passes for 138 yards with a touchdown, but he also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. Bradford went 24-for-41 for 224 yards and a late score, but he threw a pick in the end zone and fumbled on four of his sacks, losing two of them. Before the last, meaningless drive, Bradford was 15-for-31 for 154 yards.

Bradford meandered around the field for a few moments after the loss. Significantly, though, he didn't congratulate Wentz; this, after a contest that carried only moderate significance.

"I didn't find him after the game," Wentz admitted.

Bradford didn't want to be found.

It wasn't that damning a loss. Bradford had been beaten in a road game to a team with a good defense and a winning record, but he acted as if the NFC title had been lost. Understand: few quarterbacks accept losing with more equanimity than Bradford. Of course, having lost more than 60 percent of his games before this season, few quarterbacks have had as much practice as Bradford.

This time, he was tight-lipped and severe.

This meant everything to Bradford. Everything.

He entered Lincoln Financial Field with more baggage than an insurance widow on a world cruise. He'd been the Eagles' short-term, $36 million, franchise quarterback. After he'd refused a deal longer than two years, the Eagles traded up to pick Wentz. Bradford stormed out of preseason workouts and demanded a trade, which the Eagles refused. So, Bradford had to spend months tutoring his replacement. His salvation came when, at the end of training camp the Vikings lost Teddy Bridgewater to a knee injury, which prompted them to make what seemed to be a lopsided trade for Bradford, leaving the Eagles with Wentz.

Wentz played well enough to put the Eagles at 3-0 but sputtered with the team in consecutive losses. Bradford, meanwhile, sat for a week then led the Vikings to four wins, compiled a 109.7 passer rating and returned to Philadelphia with MVP aspirations, coming off a bye with vengeance in his eye. He was ready to bury the team that, during his walkout, buried him; ready to humiliate the team that mortgaged its present and its future to acquire his replacement, thereby humiliating him.

Instead, Bradford was humiliated.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz realized that Bradford knew Schwartz's defense, and that the Vikings' line was suspect, so Schwartz abandoned his script, blitzed Bradford with abandon and stunned Sam into ineffectiveness.

"I have to find a way to get the ball out quicker," Bradford said. "I just have to be better about keeping two hands on the ball in the pocket."

Bradford's limitation to the pocket was one reason why the Eagles opted for a more mobile player. Wentz felt pressure early, but he eluded it. The Vikings' 19 sacks ranked third in the league but, despite frequent snap issues and protection breakdowns, they got none Sunday.

One play in particular underscored the difference between Wentz and Bradford. Midway through the third quarter at the Vikings' 28, Jason Kelce uncorked a bad snap. A less athletic quarterback would have had to fall on it, grenade-style. Instead, Wentz smoothly scooped it up, rolled right and found Darren Sproles down the sideline for 19 yards. That set up the Eagles' only offensive touchdown and made the score 18-3.

Wentz also ran for a two-point conversion and scampered for a 6-yard gain on a busted, fourth-down run-pass option.

He played well enough to win it.

Bradford played badly enough to lose it.

"It's hard to evaluate his performance when we looked like a sieve in there," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said.

No, it isn't. The line was bad, but Bradford was, too.

Bad, and beaten, and angry.

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