Kevin O’Connell Explains the Adam Thielen Snub
Entering the weekend with a 4-7 record, the Vikings could already smell the elimination scenarios. While still technically alive, the season will be dead within a week or two; make no mistake about it. In the NFL, a 4-8 record just won’t get it done. Besides the win-loss numbers, the operation has played as poorly as the numbers suggest, making any thoughts about winning out quite ridiculous.
Kevin O’Connell Explains the Adam Thielen Snub
Brian Flores’ defense is trying everything in its power to keep the team in games, but there’s only so much a defense can do. They made Sam Darnold’s explosive Seahawks offense look like, well, a Vikings offense.
It’s been that kind of season. The Vikings can’t move the ball, and they can’t protect it either. In the week leading up to the game, everyone knew it would be Max Brosmer quarterbacking the sinking ship, and it went about as sloppily as it could’ve gone.
Christian Darrisaw and Donovan Jackson — the entire left side of the offensive line — missing the game didn’t help. They were injured. When the team announced the inactive players, their absences elicited a collective sigh, but most folks then focused on a different name on the list: Adam Thielen.
The franchise great seems to be in the last weeks of his long NFL career, or at least in the last weeks of his Vikings career. He was inactive, and it wasn’t for injury reasons, head coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed after the game.
“I’d just file it under a coach’s decision. Looking at where we were at some other positions around our roster, you’re just trying to do what you think is best to win and make sure you’ve got some depth at some other spots where guys were dealing with some things. That receiver position’s one that has stayed pretty remarkably healthy this year.”
The Vikings just held him out of the game. Multiple players entered the contest with injuries, and expecting those injuries to worsen isn’t the worst idea. And let’s be honest, Thielen has been expendable this season, whether we like it or not. O’Connell still had his top trio of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and Jalen Nailor available, while special teamers Tai Felton and Myles Price are technically receivers, too.
The third-ranked receiving touchdown-getter in franchise history has caught eight passes this season for 69 yards. His season-best is 26 yards in Week 2, and he hasn’t eclipsed 16 yards in a game since Jordan Addison returned from his three-game suspension. Since that Week 4 mark, he also hasn’t registered more than 14 offensive snaps in a single game.
It may be a hard pill to swallow for Skol Nation, but Thielen’s career is coming to an end. At the age of 35, that’s no surprise.
In hindsight, however, trading a couple of draft picks to Carolina to acquire the player was a massive mistake, though. It’s just one of many blunders the Vikings made between March and September, and those moves certainly played a role in the disappointing season.
At the time, the Vikings were a little short-handed in the WR room. Jefferson and Nailor both had missed time in training camp, and Addison was scheduled to miss the first three games due to his suspension. Thielen, who was still efficient last year with the Panthers, was supposed to provide a pair of reliable hands for young signal-caller J.J. McCarthy.
Those reliable hands have disappeared. He dropped several passes in his 12 NFL season (13 if we count the year on the practice squad in 2013).
Thielen has played in 146 games with the Vikings, catching 542 passes for 6,751 yards and 55 touchdowns. He still ranks third in franchise history in receiving touchdowns. It remains to be seen if he’ll get the chance to add to those numbers.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.