Adam Thielen is making history with the Minnesota Vikings

Following another huge performance in Week 11, Minnesota Vikings receiver Adam Thielen put himself in some elite company.

Adam Thielen is the epitome of an unlikely success story. In his fourth season with the Minnesota Vikings, the Division II product out of Minnesota State Mankato is putting together one of the finest seasons by a Vikings receiver.

Making the roster as an undrafted free agent in 2014, Thielen has worked his way up from special teams standout to no. 1 receiver. As matter of fact, he had a total of 20 catches for 281 yards in his first two years, spending a majority of his time on special teams. Since then, he boasts 125 catches for 1,883 yards in 25 games, establishing himself as the no. 1 receiver on the Vikings.

In his latest superb performance against the Los Angeles Rams, Thielen built on a season-high 166-yard game versus the Washington Redskins. Specifically, he caught six balls for 123 yards, including a beautiful 65-yard touchdown to break open the game in the fourth quarter. On the play, Thielen ran a 5-yard hook route and put a nifty inside move on Rams rookie cornerback Dominique Hatfield. From there, the wideout flashed his 4.4 speed all the way to the end zone.

Through 10 games in 2017, the star wideout has 62 catches for 916 yards. The yardage total is good enough for second in the NFL, only trailing Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Antonio Brown. Additionally, the 27-year-old has at least five catches in every game and has established himself as one of the top playmakers in the league. In fact, he’s also second to Brown with 16 plays of 20 or more yards.

While Thielen’s spectacular season puts him in the company of arguably the best wideout in the game right now, it also puts him in company with one of the best wideouts to ever play the game. That is, former Vikings legend and future Hall of Famer Randy Moss.

In 2003, Moss finished with 1,632 yards, a Vikings single-season record, whereas his 2000 total of 1,437 ranks second in Vikings history.

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With this in mind, Thielen has a long way to go to set the Vikings all-time single-season record but it isn’t out of the question either with six games left in the season. On the other hand, 522 yards is more realistic in order to surpass Moss’ 2000 total. At the least, Thielen is going to be the first Vikings wideout to go over 1,000 yards since Sidney Rice had 1,312 in 2009.

Ultimately, the fact Thielen is being mentioned in the same light as players like Brown and Moss is impressive in itself. A testament to the type of player he’s become. Undoubtedly, he has a long way to go in order to match the resume of those players, but there’s no reason to believe he can’t get there. I mean, doubting him at this point doesn’t seem like a wise move.

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Most importantly, Thielen has helped the Vikings stand among the top teams in the league at 8-2. In all likelihood, it’s safe to say the record could look a lot different without the offense’s top weapon.