Leave him in there and let him grow, because there will be moments where he does struggle. It happens to every rookie, and it's even more glaring for quarterbacks. Even as we look at his debut, it was a solid performance in that hostile environment but the Vikings offense didn't score a touchdown. Bridgewater missed three check down throws by my count. He'll need to sustain drives against the Falcons and capitalize on their poor secondary.

You can't bench Bridgewater this season based on performance though, and I don't think the Vikings will. He's only 21 and still developing. As I've said all along, he'll be a good quarterback and finally this franchise will have stability at the position. Christian Ponder should only receive snaps if Bridgewater gets hurt…which if you look at this offensive line, there's a possibility.

Well, some of that is on Cordarrelle Patterson. He did improve on his route running during training camp, but Patterson still needs work. He's having a tough time getting open as a receiver. Without tight end Kyle Rudolph, running back Adrian Peterson and right guard Brandon Fusco, the Vikings need Patterson and Greg Jennings to step up and make plays.

As the run plays called for Patterson we saw Week 1? I don't think offensive coordinator Norv Turner wants to consistently rely on those plays and make it predictable for defenses to stop them. After the season opener, every team is preparing for that jet sweep and Patterson halfback toss. They tried a reverse to Patterson on Bridgewater's first play that lost yards, but Turner will come back to the jet sweep eventually. It isn't as effective if you run it every week as opposed to sprinkling it in the game plan once every few weeks.

He's gone two weeks without it now and the offense hasn't scored a touchdown in seven quarters. Maybe we see a little jet sweep action on the first drive?

I don't think that's changed necessarily with the recent string of events. Yes, the absence of Peterson has completely changed the dynamic offensively. This was a rebuilding year even if the 2012 NFL MVP was still playing, though. The only way it wouldn't have been a rebuilding year is if they made the playoffs, which I didn't think would happen.

There are a lot of question marks right now with the offense at really every position from Bridgewater, to Patterson, to offensive tackle Matt Kalil, to running back Matt Asiata and tight end Rhett Ellison. It's interesting how the roles have reversed. At the start of the season, I thought the offense would be fine and the defense would struggle. Outside of a few big plays allowed by the secondary, the defense has actually been pretty solid. It's not getting much help from the offense, especially in Week 2 against the Patriots when quarterback Matt Cassel threw four interceptions, but they did a nice job shutting down the Saints for three quarters.

As bad as Vladimir Ducasse performed, I think he'll start due to his experience. At some point, I'm sure we'll see David Yankey and possibly offensive lineman Austin Wentworth. Is Yankey ready? We'll see. He didn't look so good during the preseason and the fact that he was inactive the first three games of the season further proves that Yankey needs work.

It probably isn't an ideal situation to use Yankey this early in the season, but the Vikings really don't have a choice. It will be interesting to see how many times the Vikings use Yankey as a pull guard on run plays. That's his biggest strength, and he moves well for a lineman.