After Eagles loss, Adam Thielen notes lack of yelling from Vikings coaches
Despite getting waxed on national TV by the Eagles on Monday night, Adam Thielen says the Vikings aren't down in the dumps – largely because of a positive attitude from head coach Kevin O'Connell and his staff.
"You don't become one of the best in your job by being successful all the time," said Thielen, speaking as a guest on KFAN Wednesday morning. "I think coach is one of those people. That's why we have so much faith and trust in this organization and this coaching staff because you just feel it. It just feels different. In good times and bad times, you just trust that they're going to figure it out and they're going to be that leadership to get us going."
Not only is the positive attitude a calming approach, so is the lack of yelling.
"I think it even gave us more confidence when we saw how guys reacted to a tough loss or tough game. You didn't see guys yelling at each other on the sideline. You didn't see coaches yelling at players. You didn't see any negativity in the locker room after the game, on the plane," Thielen explained.
This isn't the first time Thielen has commented publicly about less yelling under the new regime. In August, after the first week of training camp, Thielen said the lack of yelling during practice was "almost awkward."
"It's kind of almost awkward when things aren't going well and you're waiting for a coach to blow up," Thielen said. "But the positivity and the energy that they bring even when things aren't going well is something that is really going to set us up to handle adversity."
The mood established under former coach Mike Zimmer was labeled "a culture of fear" by linebacker Eric Kendricks, a comment that spoke volumes coming from one of the team's best and most respected veterans.
Nine months have passed since Zimmer was fired and the 66-year-old has yet to address his critics. Zimmer is currently working as an analyst at Jackson State, where Deion Sanders is the head coach. Zimmer's nephew, Andrew Zimmer, is also an analyst on Sanders' staff.
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Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.