After the Pittsburgh Steelers suffered an embarrassing 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans in the first round of the playoffs on Monday, former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver likely walked off the field as an active NFL player for the final time.
In the loss to the Texans on Monday, Thielen ended the contest with just two catches for 25 yards. It was the fourth time in his six appearances with the Steelers this season (including the playoffs) that he ended a game with two catches or fewer.
Thielen asked for his release from the Vikings earlier back in December to "go compete elsewhere" in his final season in the NFL. But instead of making any sort of impact with Pittsburgh, all he ended up doing was prove Minnesota right for reducing his snaps when Jordan Addison returned in Week 4.
Adam Thielen proves Minnesota Vikings right with underwhelming Pittsburgh Steelers tenure
The Vikings originally traded for Thielen before the start of the 2025 season because they thought he would help improve their wide receiver depth while Addison served a three-game suspension.
But in those three matchups, he wound up only catching a total of two passes for 26 yards. In that same three-game span, wide receiver Jalen Nailor emerged as a more reliable option in Minnesota's passing attack.
So, when it came time for Addison to return in Week 4, Thielen not only moved down the Vikings' wide receiver depth chart, but he fell behind Nailor, and that resulted in a significant drop in playing time for the Detroit Lakes, Minnesota native.
It's hard to blame the Vikings, though. Thielen is 35-years-old and his performance was nowhere near the level that it even was a season ago when he was with the Carolina Panthers and caught 48 passes for 615 yards and five touchdowns.
So, after five straight weeks of accumulating less than 10 offensive snaps per game, Thielen asked Minnesota to let him go elsewhere, and they essentially held the door open for him to leave.
Once he wound up with the Steelers, he was immediately given more opportunities, as he averaged more than 40 offensive snaps in the final five games of the regular season. However, the Steelers quickly found out what the Vikings already knew about Thielen and the fact that he no longer had the ability to make a significant impact.
In the end, the final scene of Thielen's made-for-TV movie career didn't come with a fairytale finish. Instead, the last few weeks of his NFL career weren't even worthy of being included among the deleted scenes.