MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The passing attack for Minnesota has largely been fueled this season by Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs
Matt Wile Jersey , who have flourished into one of the NFL’s most productive and versatile wide receiver tandems.Kyle Rudolph has again been in mostly a supporting role, often asked to assist a vulnerable offensive line with blocking and rarely the first option while running a route from his tight end spot with more than half of the throws made by Kirk Cousins sent to either Thielen or Diggs.When the Vikings badly needed a spark for their sputtering offense on Sunday in Detroit, Rudolph took full advantage of his rare opportunity as the focal point, a little like a holiday-appropriate red-nosed reindeer tasked with pulling the sleigh through a snowstorm for Santa Claus.“Just my time,” Rudolph said after the Vikings beat the Lions 27-9 to stay in control of the second wild-card spot in the NFC . “You just prepare each and every week as best you can. We’ve got two really, really good receivers on the outside, and today when the ball came my way I just tried to catch it. I can’t tell you why or give you a reason that happened today, other than it’s almost Christmas. Christmas is usually good to me.”The leaping catch he made in the end zone on the final play of the first half wasn’t close to his only contribution, either, as critical as that desperation catch turned out to be. Rudolph was targeted a season-high nine times, and he snagged all of those passes for a career-high 122 yards and just the third two-touchdown game out of the 115, including the playoffs, he’s suited up for.“I take a lot of pride in preparing myself each and every week when these opportunities do come,” Rudolph said. “I don’t always know when they’re going to come in the passing game. I have a lot of other roles that I have to do that I take advantage of them.”The Vikings (8-6-1) still need one more win to secure a second straight year in the playoffs, a feat they last accomplished in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Otherwise their fate will be in Washington’s hands, with a loss by Philadelphia in that case the only way in. NFC North champion Chicago will visit U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, with the Bears still playing for a better seed.“We’ve got to empty the bucket, and that’s the way we’ve got to play next week at home,” Rudolph said. “I’m really looking forward to that environment.”Rudolph had seven receptions for 63 yards in the game against Green Bay on Nov. 25 after voicing to the coaching staff a team-success-driven concern about the lack of impact he’d been able to make as a pass-catcher to that point. He had only eight catches for 68 yards combined over the three games that followed, though.With Thielen and Diggs frequently drawing double teams during the second half of the season, and undoubtedly in the playoffs as long as the Vikings continue on, Rudolph’s production is vital for an offense that has been up and down in Cousins’ first year in purple.Since Kevin Stefanski replaced John DeFilippo as offensive coordinator, the Vikings have employed more play-action passes and bootleg rollouts for Cousins, concepts that can only help Rudolph thrive up and down the field.“It just adds another weapon,” coach Mike Zimmer said, adding: “The more guys we can use, the better it is.”Despite such quiet stretches during this season, Rudolph has 60 receptions for 615 yards, both the second highest of his career behind 2016. The longest-tenured player on the offense, Rudolph also has a 77.9 percent catch rate on the throws he’s been targeted on to surge past his previous best of 70.6 in 2014.“He’s a tremendous talent,” Cousins said.If the Vikings beat the Bears (11-4), the probable scenario is the No. 6 seed and an instant rematch in the wild-card round in Chicago.That would change if Seattle (9-6)
Rashod Hill Jersey , which opened as 11½-point favorites against Arizona (3-12), loses at home to the Cardinals. Then the Vikings would jump the Seahawks for the No. 5 seed and travel to NFC East champion Dallas (9-6).If the Vikings lose but the Eagles also lose to send them back to the tournament, they will face the Bears unless San Francisco (4-11), which began as a nine-point underdog, wins at Los Angeles (12-3).In that case, the Vikings would play the Rams next weekend with the Bears taking the No. 2 seed and the first-round bye.The NFL set the schedule up to maximize the drama, bumping the Bears-Vikings game to the late-afternoon timeslot so it will be played simultaneously with the Eagles-Redskins, Cardinals-Seahawks and 49ers-Rams games. There will be four other AFC games with postseason impact taking place at the same time, too.“I don’t think I want to get in 8-7-1,” Cousins said. “I think 9-6-1 is a better way to earn your way in, and hopefully we can get the job done.” That was.........I don’t know, it was just......the end.In symbolic unity with the 2018 NFL season, yesterday began with so much promise for the Vikings and their fans, and it ended in utter disappointment. We slowly watched our playoff chances sink into oblivion, and the only sound heard at US Bank Stadium was the sound of the season, as it was flushed down the proverbial toilet.The offense was terrible, there’s no other way to say it, it stunk. Cousins looked like he was wound up tighter than an eight-day clock, and he played like it, too. There really isn’t much to say, they did very little the entire game. The little back-and-forth between Thielen and Cousins (which will get blown WAAAAAYYYYYY out of proportion by pretty much every media outlet) was the only sign of life we saw on that side of the ball all day. I’m not sure what the solution is, but I know there is far too much talent in that group to put up performances like we saw yesterday, and like we’ve seen for most of the year.There are many options on the table, and I would imagine they will all be explored by the Wilfs. No one is guaranteed to come back next year, from the top to the bottom. I don’t know what to expect, but I expect we’ll see some changes in key positions in the Vikings front office and/or coaching staff before next year. I don’t believe in making moves “just to do something”, but I do believe there is a problem on the Vikings offense, and it needs to be addressed. I’m sure we’ll discuss in much more detail as the days....weeks.......and months go by. This sucks, it’s going to be a long off-season. I probably won’t link much below, as I’m ***ed, and will likely be so for a few days as I process what I just watched.
