Adam Thielen: Bill Belichick ‘can hate me all he wants’

The Minnesota Vikings wide receiver explained why he got into a shouting match with the New England Patriots head coach on Sunday.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen is not exactly known for being a hot-head during his NFL career. He has his moments of frustration at times, but normally the guy doesn’t go over the top with his reactions.

On Sunday though, Thielen couldn’t help himself when he thought the New England Patriots were in the wrong.

With just under nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, Vikings running back Latavius Murray gained enough on a 4th and 1 to convert for a first down. However, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick did not believe Murray got the first down and decided to challenge the ruling on the field.

Belichick did take a little while to throw the challenge flag and Thielen took notice of this. After the play was challenged, the Vikings receiver and the New England coach were seen shouting and saying some pretty colorful words to each other.

Following the game, Thielen explained why he had a problem with how long it took for Belichick to challenge the play.

"“Obviously, I’ve got to keep my cool. (I’ve) got a lot of respect for him and what he’s done and I can’t lose it like that.But I just thought it was interesting timing for a guy to go down when it was a close play that could have been reviewed. I just thought the play was cheap.”"

The Minnesota receiver is referring to Patriots defender Patrick Chung conveniently going down with an injury and allowing New England more time to review the play before challenging.

Thielen added that he’s not bothered by anything that Belichick said to him during the exchange.

"“He can think what he wants to think about me and it doesn’t really change how I’m going to play the game. He can hate me all he wants and I’m going to still be the same person I am. I’m going to try to go out and do my best and I’m going to try and compete every play.”"

It’s not crazy to think that the Vikings receiver was frustrated with his lack of production up to that point and the challenge just took it over the top for him.

It was a frustrating afternoon for pretty much every member of Minnesota on Sunday though. The Vikings had a number of opportunities to pull ahead against the Patriots, but Minnesota just couldn’t capitalize on the chances New England continued to give them.

Moving forward, Thielen and the rest of the Vikings should bottle up their frustrations from Sunday and just take them out on the Seattle Seahawks next week.