Kyle Rudolph made nine catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns, including a Hail Mary, as the Minnesota Vikings came within one win of a playoff berth.
Insert your Rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-pun here.
It was a career high in receiving yards for Rudolph, who exceeded his previous career best of 117 in 2016 against the Chicago Bears. He now sits at 615 receiving yards, the second-highest total in his career, and he doubled his season’s touchdown output from two to four.
His biggest play of the day might not have happened, ironically, if not for Rudolph’s own blunder. With the Vikings trailing 9-7 in the waning seconds of the first half, Rudolph made a catch across midfield with eight seconds remaining. Instead of racing forward to set up a timeout and a potential field goal attempt, Rudolph ran laterally to the sideline in an effort to get out of bounds and wound up losing yardage. It forced the Vikings to send out the offense for one more play: a perfectly-executed Hail Mary heave from Kirk Cousins to Rudolph for a 44-yard score and a 14-9 Vikings lead at half.
The Lions rushed just three, buying Cousins time to roam around the pocket and allow his receivers to set up in the end zone. The pass was perfectly placed — 60 yards in the air — to Rudolph, who boxed out defensive back DeShawn Shead in a crowd. Head coach Mike Zimmer complimented Rudolph’s positioning after the game, saying the Vikings had simulated the play in practice, though had never actually thrown the ball to safeguard against injuries.
Vikings players dubbed Kyle Rudolph’s 44-yard TD in the end zone as time expired in the first half the “Hail Rudy.”
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) December 23, 2018
The Hail Mary heave salvaged an otherwise sloppy Vikings first half in which they had four consecutive three-and-outs to start the game — a sharp contrast from their three game-opening touchdowns against Miami in Week 15. It took Minnesota until its fifth drive to run an offensive play beyond their own 30-yard line.
Rudolph finished the first half with three catches and added six more in the second half as he tied for his second-most receptions in a single game. He added catches of 11, 12 and 17 yards in the second half, as well as a 4-yard touchdown, to help the Vikings extend their lead.
Two drives before his second touchdown, though, Rudolph made a 1-yard reception at the Lions 12-yard line, ending an 11-week drought for red-zone receptions. He had zero receptions on his previous seven targets going back to Week 5 against Philadelphia.
Zimmer implied that the play-calling of interim offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski helped Rudolph break through.
“We thought we could get him open on some things with some of the coverages they were running,” Zimmer told reporters after the game, “and honestly, Kyle hasn’t run some of those routes for a long time this year, so some of that helped.”
Stefanski might’ve been feeling the heat after the first four drives, but he engineered another winning offensive performance with 27 points in the final three quarters, thanks in large part to his trusty tight end.
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