3 silver linings from the Vikings’ loss to the Chiefs in Week 9
By Nik Edlund
Seldom used players step up
Whether it was by design or just how things ended up, the Vikings got some offensive help from some rarely used commodities against the Chiefs in Week 9. Players who are hardly ever involved in the game plan were utilized by Minnesota and they were actually quite effective against Kansas City.
The biggest one was Laquon Treadwell. With Adam Thielen leaving the game early with his hamstring issue, Treadwell stepped up. The former first-round pick was heavily targeted by Kirk Cousins and he even looked for him once on a deep ball down the field.
Treadwell caught everything that was close to him and he even led the Vikings with 58 receiving yards on Sunday.
Treadwell has supposedly impressed Minnesota’s coaching staff with his approach since being let go by the team earlier in the season. He has clearly been humbled and he is working hard to shed that bust label.
He’s got a long way to go before that happens, but at least he’s shown the Vikings he can help fill the void if Thielen is lost for an extended period of time.
Another guy who stepped up on Sunday was third-string running back Ameer Abdullah. Maybe this was part of Kevin Stefanski’s game plan to get the speedy Abdullah lined up against the Chiefs’ linebackers and if it was, it worked.
Abdullah scorched down the sidelines and hauled in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Cousins in the third quarter. He also had one carry for a couple of yards. Again, not a huge contribution, but it was nice seeing him step up when his number finally got called.
The final rarely used Vikings player on Sunday was fullback C.J. Ham. He is always blowing up potential tacklers game after game with his impressive blocking ability, but he is rarely used as an offensive weapon.
He caught a couple of balls against Kansas City and he had a big gainer that went for about 30 yards. Ham has shown up when called upon and he is a weapon Minnesota knows they can depend on whenever they decide to dust him off.