Poll: Should Teddy Bridgewater Play On Thursday Night?

Since the end of the Minnesota Vikings' 41-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, the question has been whether or not rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater would be ready to go against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday Night Football. With the official injury report listing him as questionable, he will be a game time decision for the contest.

Now, the point of this is not to ask whether or not we want to see Teddy Bridgewater play on Thursday night. I think, all things being equal, we would obviously want him to be out there. However, there are good reasons for not playing him as well.

The biggest reason is that it sounds like it's going to be a wet, sloppy mess at Lambeau Field on Thursday night. The current forecast is showing a 70% chance of thunderstorms at game time, with the rain starting in the early-to-mid afternoon and persisting into the early hours of Friday morning. With Bridgewater nursing some form of ankle sprain, a sloppy track isn't exactly the sort of surface you might want him out there on. You could make the case that it would be best to have him sit down and give him the ten extra days to rest before the Vikings host the Detroit Lions in Week 6.

On the other hand, it's a big divisional game that the Vikings are facing on Thursday night, and Teddy Bridgewater almost certainly gives the Vikings the best chance at victory at Lambeau Field. (I think the Vikings probably could win with Christian Ponder at quarterback, but I also understand that I'm probably the only person on the North American continent that thinks that's the case.) That suggests that if Bridgewater can go in this one that Mike Zimmer and company should put him out there. The downside of that, of course, is that if Bridgewater were to aggravate his ankle injury in some way, then he's out for a longer period of time.

Personally, I'm not sure which way I'm leaning on this one. We all want Teddy Bridgewater to be the long-term answer for this team at quarterback, and if this past Sunday is any indication he can be just that. But I also don't want to see the team lose him for any length of time for the sake of one game, even if it is against a division rival that we all hate losing to.

So, I'm going to open it up for debate for you folks leading up to game time this evening. What do you think the Vikings should do with Teddy Bridgewater on Thursday night?