Vikings won't alter offensive approach despite Bridgewater's recent success

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was close to perfect in Sunday's 38-17 victory against the Chicago Bears.

Literally.

Bridgewater threw four touchdowns, completed 85 percent of his passes, and ended the contest with a passer rating of 154.4, less than four points shy of a perfect mark (158.3).

However, despite maybe the most impressive passing performance of the young quarterback's career, head coach Mike Zimmer said the Vikings won't be tempted to move away from their run-first offensive philosophy.

"I don't particularly see us as a team that's going to be throwing the ball every play," Zimmer said, according to Brian Murphy of Twin Cities. "That's just not who we are right now. But I think you can see when we're effective throwing the football how much better we can be offensively."

Zimmer praised the progress Bridgewater has made in the past two games after an inconsistent season for the second-year signal caller.

"He's felt really good going into these last two ballgames," Zimmer said. "I think maybe sometimes in the past he saw some things were covered that really still had a chance to get open, and he's (completed) those."

The Vikings have struggled to pass the ball effectively all season long, ranking 31st in passing yards per game. Their struggles have been caused in large part due to an offensive line that has been unable to protect its quarterback.

Bridgewater has been sacked 39 times this season and has been constantly pressured in the pocket. Because of this, the Vikings have centered their offense around Adrian Peterson and the run game to an even greater degree than was expected. But Zimmer denied there's a temptation to pass more with the injury to the running back.

"I don't think there will be," he said. "We want to run the football, and we want to be efficient throwing the ball."