Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner on Tuesday scolded fans for booing Christian Ponder during the preseason opener against Oakland and tossed the third-string quarterback a series of bouquets.

Ponder mopped up during the second half of Minnesota’s 10-6 victory over the Raiders at TCF Bank Stadium on Aug. 9, completing 3 of 7 passes for 39 yards.

Turner is an advocate for carrying three quarterbacks and has said since the offseason he wants to keep Ponder engaged behind presumptive starter Matt Cassel and rookie Teddy Bridgewater.

“I was very disappointed in the opening game the way our fans reacted to Christian,” Turner said. “I think he has done everything he can do. He’s working his butt off. He’s a guy that’s going to be valuable to our team.”

Head coach Mike Zimmer on Tuesday said, “I don’t think we’ll be (at) two quarterbacks.”

As Cleveland’s offensive coordinator in 2013, Turner had three QBs — Brian Hoyer, Brandon Weeden and Jason Campbell — take snaps during the season.

“We had three different guys have three career games in different situations, but we didn’t win the games because we gave up a touchdown at the end of the game or something kept us from winning that was out of the QB’s hands,” Turner said.

“I thought that happened to Christian a number of times last year. Having three quarterbacks, if that’s the way we end up going, it’s extremely valuable to me.”

Follow Brian Murphy at twitter.com/murphPPress.