Mike Zimmer can’t give real reason he sat Teddy Bridgewater

Mike Zimmer held Teddy Bridgewater out of Thursday night’s preseason game against Seattle, but he doesn’t want to explain why.

Fans want to know why Teddy Bridgewater was kept out of last night’s preseason game but coach Mike Zimmer doesn’t owe them an explanation.

All Zimmer will say is that Bridgewater was not benched for disciplinary reasons.

When asked about the move post-game Zimmer got a little testy with the press (via 1500 ESPN):

"“Teddy Bridgewater’s the nicest kid in the world,” Zimmer said, “there’s no disciplinary action ever with Teddy so it had nothing to do with discipline, it had to do with my decision.”Zimmer became annoyed with follow up questions during his press conference. “It was my decision,” he said. “How many times are we going to go through this? It was my decision. Good enough?”"

Zimmer has good reason for staying mum about Bridgewater’s night off. He doesn’t want to come right out and admit that he has zero confidence in his pass protection right now and is worried about Bridgewater getting hit.

Zim watched Andre Smith whiff on a block last week and give up a sack of Bridgewater. That led to Smith being demoted to second-team for a couple of practices.

As of now you have to assume Andre Smith is battling for his job. He did get the start Thursday night ahead of T.J. Clemmings but that doesn’t mean a whole lot.

Don’t expect blow-by-blow updates on the right tackle battle from Mike Zimmer. And don’t expect explanations for his game-time personnel moves.

Next: Bridgewater sits out of preseason game

Do expect Mike Zimmer to protect his most precious offensive assets, Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson.

For now we have to consider the offensive line a work-in-progress. Until that progress begins to speed up, the Vikings are going to struggle.