Which NFL backup quarterback would you trust the most with the season on the line?

Mitchell Trubisky missed his Thanksgiving date with the Detroit Lions. Chase Daniel made sure that wasn’t a problem.

The veteran backup proved his worth Thursday, carving up the Lions in an efficient 230-yard, two-touchdown performance. Even though it was just his third start in nine NFL seasons, he justified the multiple eight-figure contracts he’s signed in a career served as a backup — especially on a day where Colt McCoy threw three interceptions when asked to fill Alex Smith’s shoes in Washington.

But is Daniel the league’s best No. 2 quarterback?

Let’s say you’ve got to turn the reins of your favorite team over to one of the league’s 32 current backup quarterbacks — any player who either started the season as No. 2 (or 3) on his team’s depth chart or moved there during the season to make way for a returning starter. That includes a cast of characters that includes last year’s Super Bowl MVP (Nick Foles), 2016’s Heisman Trophy winner (Lamar Jackson), a man who won 11 games in 2008 with the Patriots (Matt Cassel), and whatever the hell Ryan Fitzpatrick even is at this point.

Which player would you choose to guide your club to the postseason? Would you purchase a ticket for the Foles roller coaster (a Folercoaster, if you will)? Hitch your wagon to an emerging young passer like Jackson or C.J. Beathard? Give Daniel his chance to shine?

Here are our picks.

A few weeks ago, this would have been Ryan Fitzpatrick, who went from conquering hero (he beat the Saints!) to the guy the Bills regret giving so much money in a matter of weeks. Before the season it would have been Foles, who shrank back from Super Bowl MVP to “slightly shorter Brock Osweiler” while filling in for Carson Wentz.

But one guy who hasn’t been given the opportunity to do anything, good or bad, this season is also the league’s most intriguing quarterback. Teddy Bridgewater has only thrown three regular season passes since suffering a catastrophic knee injury in the summer of 2016, and he hasn’t completed any of them. But his preseason work suggests he’s pretty close to the 2015 form that guided the Vikings to an 11-win season, and he’s still got room to grow from there.

Bridgewater wasn’t especially mind-blowing in that 2015 Pro Bowl season, but he showed off an innate feel for the game and a tremendous capacity to grow into his offense. That learning curve got a lot steeper when his lower briefly detached from his body, but two years of an arduous recovery process has put him back on track. It may have just been the preseason, but in three games he completed 28 of 38 passes for 316 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.

That was enough for the Saints to trade a third-round pick to acquire him this preseason. While he’s a solid insurance policy for a soon-to-be 40-year-old Drew Brees in 2018, New Orleans’ true intent is to groom him into its quarterback of the future. It makes sense. Bridgewater is an inexpensive 26-year-old quarterback with playoff experience — and he’d have a postseason win on his resume if it weren’t for Blair Walsh’s crippling inability to make a 27-yard field goal in the cold.

If he remains at his current level, Bridgewater is the kind of game-managing quarterback with which a good team can win. If he continues to show the growth that got cut off in 2016, he can be an upper-tier passer who can make plays and win games on his own. In the end, that past experience gives him the edge over a young, growing star like Jackson or a veteran who has already hit his ceiling like Daniel or Fitzpatrick. — Christian D’Andrea

Tyrod Taylor didn’t play well for the Browns earlier this season, but he’s had enough success in the past to get the nod as the backup quarterback I would stake my season on.

In 2016, Taylor led the Buffalo Bills to a top-10 scoring offense, which seems impossible considering the current state of the Bills offense. In 2017, he was one of the few positive impacts on the offense and led the Bills to a playoff berth — even though he was benched for Nathan Peterman in the midst of a playoff run. Out of the 39 quarterbacks who threw 300 passes between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Taylor ranked a respectable 20th in passer rating and 21st in adjusted yards per attempt.

Taylor has never been the most dynamic quarterback in the league, but he plays relatively turnover-free football and can make plays on the ground with his legs. His style is a bit too conservative at times, especially considering how many sacks he takes. Still, Taylor is a starting-caliber quarterback in the NFL.

It’s also fair to see what Taylor can do without Hue Jackson being in the picture. Taylor had by far his worst stretch of play in the 2.5 games he played with Hue Jackson — rookie Baker Mayfield is already seeing a post-Jackson jump, so Tyrod could see a similar improvement in play with a new coaching situation. — Charles McDonald

Maybe Foles’ run in the playoffs last year was a fluke. After all, he went from a journeyman quarterback who almost retired at age 26 to Super Bowl MVP to getting booed by Eagles fans 30 minutes into the new season.

Foles’ 2018 postseason magic didn’t transfer over when the 2018 season rolled around. In two preseason games, he threw zero touchdowns and two picks while getting sacked six times. Those numbers improved a little — barely — when the regular season began: one touchdown, one interception, and five sacks taken in two games before Carson Wentz returned (and has struggled in his own right).

It’d be easy to dismiss Foles as a one-hit wonder, a guy who got hot last winter and turned it into a book deal.

But, three things:

So yeah, he’s seen some shit.

Foles has always been unpredictable, but I’d rather take a quarterback who we know can turn it on than one who we think can.

He completed 56.4 percent of his passes and averaged just 5.3 yards per attempt in three starts last season, both career lows. Compare that to his three starts in the playoffs, when he did a better Tom Brady impersonation than Tom Brady. He completed 72.6 percent of his passes for 971 yards, six touchdowns, one interception, and averaged 9.2 yards per attempt. Oh yeah, and he caught a touchdown, as we all know because every other team has copied the Philly Special this year.

Would it be a risk? Of course there’s a chance that you’d be getting pre- or post-playoff version of Foles rather than the one who delivered the Eagles their first Super Bowl. But that last part is why it’d be a risk worth taking. — Sarah Hardy