Vikings notes: Bridgewater not ready to go; Patterson says he's OK

GREEN BAY. WIS. – Teddy Bridgewater was not ready for prime time.

The Vikings quarterback was inactive Thursday night in the nationally televised 42-10 loss to the Packers because of an injured left ankle.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer decided Bridgewater should not try to play on the ankle and said the rainy weather had nothing to do with his decision.

"It wasn't up to him," Zimmer said. "It was up to me."

Both Zimmer and Bridgewater said the quarterback would be ready to play by next week.

Did Bridgewater lobby to play?

"It was a decision that Coach made," the rookie said. "He thought it was best for the team and what was best for me, also.''

Receiver Cordarrelle Patterson didn't finish the game after suffering a bruised hip on the opening kickoff of the second half.

"He's got a hip [injury],'' Zimmer said. "He'll be all right.''

Patterson concurred.

"I definitely could have finished the game if it had been closer,'' Patterson said. "With the score what it was, Coach just said shut it down.''

Patterson hasn't had a big game since Week 1, when he torched the Rams running and receiving. Thursday, he caught two passes for 8 yards and didn't carry from scrimmage.

Patterson was asked what Zimmer said to the team after the game.

"Oooh, he said a lot of things — things don't need to be said on camera," Patterson said.

"At halftime, his speech was worse than after the game. You always need stuff like that. He's just trying to motivate us and just try to get us going."

Chandler Harnish worked his way up the Vikings depth chart awfully quickly.

Signed to the team's practice squad Monday, Harnish was already the No. 2 quarterback when Thursday night's game against Green Bay started.

Christian Ponder was the third starting quarterback for the Vikings in three games. He started the season at No. 3 behind Matt Cassel, who broke his left foot against the Saints in Game 3, and Bridgewater, who was injured in Sunday's victory against Atlanta.

Harnish and McLeod Bethel-Thompson (added last week) were both on the Vikings practice squad early Wednesday. When the Vikings determined Bridgewater would not be able to play, they activated Harnish for the game.

Receiver Rodney Smith had to be cut to make room for Harnish on the roster.

Harnish was waived by the Colts on cutdown day, Aug. 30. He had been drafted by Indianapolis in the seventh round (253rd overall) in 2012 and made the team out of training camp before being cut in October and put on their practice squad. He was re-signed in January.

Harnish, from Bluffton, Ind., had a storied career at Northern Illinois after being recruited by Kill. He started 45 games in four seasons, threw for 8,944 yards and 68 touchdowns and rushed for 2,983 yards and 24 touchdowns. Northern Illinois played in four consecutive bowl games.

Green Bay's inactives included receiver Jarrett Boykin, quarterback Scott Tolzien, cornerback Demetri Goodson, linebackers Sam Barrington and Carl Bradford and defensive end Josh Boyd. Also inactive was center Garth Gerhart, the brother of former Vikings running back Toby Gerhart, who is now with Jacksonville.

Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen has been the subject of double-teams in his first season as a starter.

After recording two sacks against the Rams in the season opener, on consecutive plays no less, Griffen has had a difficult time bringing down quarterbacks because he has been double teamed.

"It's frustrating, super frustrating, but I can't allow it to affect my game," Griffen said before Thursday's game. "I've been working on it, watching a lot of film and seeing what I'm doing wrong and be able to execute it these upcoming games."

Griffen had one sack for a loss of 4 yards in Thursday's game.