Report: Bridgewater Won't Start Without Adrian Peterson?

Well, color me a bit confused by this whole report.

The following is an interview with Jason Cole of Bleacher Report. . .yes, I know. . .on what he's heard regarding the status of rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, allegedly from speaking to a Minnesota Vikings coach.

So, if this report is to be believed, there's a very good chance that we're not going to see the next "quarterback of the future" for the Minnesota Vikings in 2014.

Frankly, this strikes me as a bit ridiculous. For starters, I understand that Adrian Peterson has been the centerpiece of the Minnesota Vikings' offense since 2007 and that he causes teams to have to game plan differently on defense. But honestly, there have been a lot of rookie quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League, and only two of them. . .Joe Webb and Christian Ponder. . .have had the benefit of Adrian Peterson in the backfield. Plenty of other rookie quarterbacks have stepped into the National Football League without the benefit of one of the all-time great running backs and have done just fine.

Second, whether Teddy Bridgewater starts or not should not be determined by whether or not Adrian Peterson is on the team. It should be determined by whether or not Matt Cassel continues to be Matt Cassel. The Vikings declared at the beginning of camp that there would be a three-way competition in camp for the starting quarterback spot, but that lasted for approximately two days before Ponder became an afterthought.

The Vikings' coaches have operated all pre-season as though Cassel and Bridgewater were competing for the starting quarterback job, and they eventually gave the reigns to Cassel, who reportedly "did nothing to lose the job." Based on that logic, and the fact that Ponder has been inactive for the Vikings' first two games (and figure to be in the future), Bridgewater is the second guy on the depth chart. And if Matt Cassel continues to put together games like he did against the New England Patriots on Sunday and show an almost complete inability to complete a pass deeper than ten yards down the field, this team is going to have to make a change at quarterback.

That change will not be to jump over Teddy Bridgewater and start Christian Ponder simply because Adrian Peterson isn't lining up in the backfield. And if it is, maybe the latter should have gotten a few more repetitions in the pre-season. But, as the meme goes, that's none of my business.

I still think we're going to see Teddy Bridgewater starting for the Minnesota Vikings at quarterback sometime this season, Peterson or no Peterson. What do you think?