For the first time in 23 months, Teddy Bridgewater took a snap in an NFL regular-season game. During the fourth quarter of Sunday's dominating performance against the Bengals, Bridgewater, the Vikings' 2014 first-round pick, replaced veteran Case Keenum with the game out of reach for Cincinnati.

The heart-warming welcome from the U.S. Bank Stadium faithful was deafening.

Bridgewater suffered a serious knee injury in August 2016 and in the months that followed, it was unclear if he would ever play again. But he returned to the active roster last month. Not surprisingly, it was an emotional moment for the man who led the Vikings to an 11-5 record and the playoffs in 2015.

The 2017 Vikings remain Keenum's team, though coach Mike Zimmer acknowledged last month that he continues to have "really high hopes" for Bridgewater.

"It's going to be hard to yank him out of there right now. He's playing good," Zimmer said at the time. "I still have really high hopes for Teddy, and a lot of things happen throughout the course of the season, so we'll just see how it goes."