Report: Vikings ‘optimistic’ Adam Thielen will return next week vs. Chargers

For the past few weeks, the Minnesota Vikings have been making a push towards the NFC playoff bracket without the help of one of their top wide receivers.

With the way Kirk Cousins has been playing for the Minnesota Vikings during the team’s past few games, it’s easy to forget that he’s been doing it all despite not having Adam Thielen to throw to.

Thanks to a hamstring injury, Thielen hasn’t been on the field for more than 10 offensive snaps since the Vikings’ win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6.

The hope was that he would be healthy enough to return last week when Minnesota took on the Seattle Seahawks. However, Thielen’s hamstring clearly wasn’t ready and the Vikings decided to also hold him out of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions.

According to a recent report, however, it seems like Minnesota is looking at their upcoming matchup in Week 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers as the time in which Thielen will return to the field.

NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported on Sunday that the Vikings and their receiver are, “optimistic (Thielen) can be on the field,” next week in Los Angeles.

Hopefully, the Minnesota receiver is as close to full health as possible and his preparations for Week 15 don’t end up with him suffering another setback with his hamstring. The Vikings have two very important divisional matchups to close out the season coming up and they could certainly use Thielen’s help in these two games.

Should Minnesota attempt to have the veteran receiver return in Week 15 against a Chargers team that only has five wins this year? The Vikings could likely get a win in this matchup without Thielen, but if he’s healthy enough to play, he should be out on the field.

Minnesota doesn’t know what the future holds and their goal for now is to just make sure they come out with a win in each of their final three games of the season. Having Thielen back in the lineup would definitely make this goal much easier to achieve for the Vikings.