The Vikings are off this week, but that should be the last one for quarterback Teddy Bridgewater‘s absence from the team’s active roster.

Bridgewater’s return from the physically unable to prepare list opened a three-week window to practice with the team before a decision must be made about activating Bridgewater or shutting him down for the season. That window closes next week and Bridgewater’s work in practice has not suggested he needs to be shut down.

Coach Mike Zimmer said on Tuesday that the team is “prepared” to activate Bridgewater next week, but didn’t press too far when asked about when Bridgewater would be a consideration as the starter.

“No, I haven’t decided that yet,” Zimmer said. “We’ll continue to take it one day at a time. Just see where he is at, where the team is at, how Case [Keenum] is doing. The whole deal. Sam [Bradford], how is he doing.”

Related players: Case Keenum, Sam Bradford

Keenum has played pretty well so far this season and the Vikings are on top of the division heading into a bye week. The story made it seem that Bradford won't be playing any time soon, which certainly opens the door for Bridgewater. Reports this week said the team still considers Bridgewater their franchise QB, but it remains to be seen who gets the start in Week 10.

Lost in the fact that Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has been cleared to practice but not play is the reality that, for the kind of injury Bridgewater sustained (and in light of the position he plays), clearance to practice is clearance to play.

Which means that he’s good to go, right now, if the Vikings want him to play.

But the Vikings don’t want him to play, right now. As one source explained it, the Vikings and Bridgewater definitely don’t want him to play next week in London, given the notoriously slippery surfaces of the soccer pitches that periodically transmogrify into gridirons.

Related players: Case Keenum, Sam Bradford

The Vikings then have a bye in Week 9, which means the earliest we'd see Bridgewater would be Week 10. But that's certainly not a lock as the team is winning with Keenum under center. The story said Bridgewater will be on the roster for Week 10, however.

On Teddy Bridgewater post-exam today: Vikings will activate him this week or next week. They expect him to play this year. Amazing recovery.

Related players: Case Keenum, Sam Bradford

This updates a story we had earlier today. This is a little more definitive in terms of the team activating him and expecting him to play this season. The Vikes will have three weeks after he practices to make a decision, which Week 10 after the Week 9 bye seems to add up right now. Like the previous story said, no one will have an idea how Bridgewater will respond to a hit until a game situation, but it's looking like the Vikes are thinking he's going to play at some point this year.

Dr. Dan Cooper, who performed Teddy Bridgewater’s knee surgery on Sept. 8, 2016, will evaluate the quarterback on Monday. If Cooper clears Bridgewater, and the Vikings sign off on it, the quarterback could return to the practice field as soon as Wednesday.

The Vikings’ plan all along has been to get Bridgewater practicing soon after Week 6, and signs point to the quarterback being ready to go. He’s been doing extensive rehab work in recent weeks, and has looked impressive in brief glimpses of his throwing sessions, flashing overhauled mechanics that have the quarterback driving off a flexed back leg and putting less stress on his surgically-repaired front leg.

Related players: Case Keenum, Sam Bradford

If Bridgewater returns this week, the Vikings have three weeks to make a decision about whether to put him on their active roster. The story suggested Bridgewater could be back after the team's Week 9 bye. With the injury to Aaron Rogers opening up doors to a lot of NFC teams, this certainly can't be ruled out. As the story said, there are still questions on if the QB can cut at full speed, protect himself and recover from a hit.

The team can bring Teddy Bridgewater back to practice after six weeks on the physically-unable-to-perform list, and multiple sources said the Vikings’ plan has been to clear Bridgewater for practice shortly after Week 6 game against, provided he has no setbacks. Bridgewater, who dislocated his left knee and tore his ACL last Aug. 30, has been making solid progress in his rehab from the injury and has steadily increased his workload in hopes of a return.

Once the Vikings clear Bridgewater to practice, they would have three weeks to decide whether to put him on their active roster or keep him on the PUP list for the remainder of the season.

In three weeks, Teddy Bridgewater will be eligible to return from the Physically Unable to Perform list and to practice with the team. One source with knowledge of the situation says that Bridgewater will be ready to go, but that the Vikings likely will proceed with caution.

Related players: Sam Bradford, Case Keenum

As the story said, the Vikings want to proceed with caution, but with Bradford already banged up, and if something were to happen to Keenum, it could change the team's mind. The story said Bradford wasn't in the building on Sunday for the game so his timetable is certainly not clear right now.

Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater has been widely praised by teammates this offseason for maintaining a positive outlook. The 24-year-old quarterback says he believes that he will play again.

“I’ve always had faith,” Bridgewater said. “Faith has gotten me this far.”

Related players: Sam Bradford

Bridgewater also said that doctors have not told him that he will never play again. He has reached out to other players who have gone through severe injuries like Frank Gore and Willis McGehee, who told the Vikings’ QB to take his time and not try to come back too early.

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was able to rehab alongside teammates during the Vikings' organized team activities and minicamp, throwing passes in individual drills and working on his dropback against a resistance band. He was wearing a knee brace at that time, but he posted a picture on Instagram earlier this month of him working without a brace.

Still, Bridgewater's road to recovery figures to be a tedious one. The Vikings head into the season with Sam Bradford as their starting quarterback and will practice with quarterbacks and rookies for the first time Monday.

Zimmer added he hasn't seen Bridgewater yet, but the QB is still shy of 11 months since his major left knee injury.

Bleacher Report's Jason Cole reports that Teddy Bridgewater is expected to miss the entire 2017 season.

Related players: Sam Bradford

It looks like Sam Bradford will continue to start for the Vikings. He led the league with a 71.6% completion rate and posted a 20-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He was also tied for the lowest yards per completion (9.8) in the league.

The Minnesota Vikings don't yet know whether Teddy Bridgewater will be their starting quarterback again. Their future, instead, could be with Sam Bradford.

Coach Mike Zimmer said in his season-ending press conference that Bradford "has earned the right to be the starting quarterback" after a year during which he set a NFL single-season record with a 71.6 completion percentage. Bradford, who came to Minnesota in a trade Sept. 3 with the Philadelphia Eagles after Bridgewater dislocated his left knee and tore his ACL on Aug. 30, threw for a career-high 3,877 yards and passed for 20 touchdowns against five interceptions.

"I think Sam has played great this year," Zimmer said. "Right now all I'm worried about is Teddy getting better. He comes in here every single day, busts his rear end and I just want him to get better right now and so we'll worry about those things later. But Sam has done remarkable things this year, with all the things that he's had to do."

Bradford is signed through the 2017 season, and general manager Rick Spielman said before the season that the quarterback's contract was part of the reason the Vikings were willing to trade a first-round pick and a 2018 fourth-rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles for Bradford. He will have a $18 million cap hit next year, with $4 million coming in a roster bonus due in March, and the Vikings will eventually have to decide whether to sign Bradford to a long-term contract. Meanwhile, Bridgewater has not talked to reporters since his injury, and declined interview requests during the Vikings' final open locker room session of the season on Monday. The Vikings said on Sept. 9 that Bridgewater had a multi-ligament reconstruction of his left knee, but have not disclosed which ligaments Bridgewater needed repaired other than his ACL.