EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- When Cordarrelle Patterson had 128 total yards, including a 67-yard touchdown run, in the Minnesota Vikings' season-opening win at St. Louis, the anticipated second-year breakout for the versatile receiver seemed just a formality.
After bursting onto the scene as a raw first-round rookie last year, Patterson was expected to take his place as one of the game's most electrifying offensive talents.
Patterson's season ended Sunday not with a career year. Instead, Patterson was mostly a bystander as he'd been much of the second half of the season. His lone offensive opportunity, a pass from Teddy Bridgewater which was bobbled by Patterson and intercepted, typified the disconnect between quarterback, team and enigmatic receiver.
"It wasn't the year I wanted, like I had last year," Patterson said. "I feel like last year was a good year for me and I felt like I was going to come back and capitalize off that. Week 1, you know, things was good. But after that, it just started going downhill. I blame myself for everything. I need to just take full advantage of the offseason and get better."
What transpired from the September season-opener and his eventual benching -- not the first time this season -- was disappointment, frustration and a lack of production.
Patterson finished fourth on the Vikings with 33 catches and 384 receiving yards. Patterson's lone receiving touchdown was in a Week 7 loss at Buffalo, the first touchdown pass of Bridgewater's career. But the two young players, both first-round picks, could never get on track together.
While Bridgewater thrived in the second half of the season, Patterson became an afterthought. After starting seven of the first nine games, he was a little-used backup over the final seven weeks.
After Sunday's game, a season-ending 13-9 win against the Chicago Bears, Bridgewater accepted the blame for the interception which went off of Patterson's hands.
"It was a poor throw," Bridgewater said after the game. "I threw the ball behind Cordarrelle, a slant route. If I just put the ball right on his shoulder, at least he can catch it, and I could've gave him 4 or 5 yards, but I left the ball behind him and it just went off of his hands. So like I said, I have to do a better job of ball placement and just finishing throws."
Instead of the second-year receiver picking up his rookie quarterback, Bridgewater was taking the blame for a play involving Patterson.
Coach Mike Zimmer, who has expressed his support of Patterson numerous times, saw the play a bit differently.
"(Bridgewater) had a 90 quarterback rating and would have been over 100 if the ball wouldn't have hit our guy in the chest and bounced out." Zimmer said after the game.
Receiver Adam Thielen, good friends with Patterson, eventually replaced Patterson and caught a game-winning, 44-yard touchdown. Zimmer said after the game that the play to Thielen wasn't part of the game plan, particularly, signifying Patterson was likely benched.
Zimmer was later asked about Patterson specifically.
"I've got a plan for this offseason for him, and hopefully it works," Zimmer said. "But it's going to be up to Cordarrelle. I'll leave it at that."
A day later, as the team cleaned out lockers, Patterson accepted the responsibility.
"He said he has a plan and we want to try to stick to that plan," Patterson said. "When I leave here, I have to go talk to the coach, just talk to him about the offseason and see how they want things and see how it's going to go so we can take full advantage of that."
Veteran receiver Greg Jennings is also in Patterson's corner, telling reporters after Sunday's game he wants to work more with Patterson. Jennings told reporters Patterson won't fail as long as Jennings is around.
"You need things like that from a veteran guy, and I hope that's the case, just learning from Greg," Patterson said. "I feel like Greg said he don't want to let me fail, I don't want to fail, so it'll be good."
Patterson said Monday he is eager to work with Jennings, Bridgewater, receivers coach George Stewart, quarterbacks coach Scott Turner and anyone willing to put in the time to draw the talent out of Patterson.
Patterson said he wants to head home and spend some time with his family and see his daughter, but will try to join Bridgewater as often as possible so the two can develop a connection. Bridgewater said he would invite the receivers down to Florida to work with him in the offseason.
"Wherever Teddy goes, I feel like I'm going to go work with him for a couple weeks; just try to get on the same page with each other and take full advantage of the offseason," Patterson said. "This is Teddy's first year. This is my second year. So Year Three for me and Year Two for Teddy. We just have to get on the same page and take full advantage of it."
No matter who the instruction is coming from, this offseason will prove critical as Patterson heads into his third NFL campaign. Speaking of his failings this season, Patterson knows he has something to prove.
"Each day, you wake up every morning, you have to prove yourself," Patterson said. "This offseason is going to be a challenge for me, coming off a bad year like I had this year. It wasn't as good as I wanted or fans and everybody else wanted. So, this year I feel like it's going to be a challenge just coming back, just [honing] it in trying to get things done."
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