MINNEAPOLIS -- For a moment, it looked like Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller had jumped Adam Thielen and absconded with a prized piece of jewelry.
After Thielen hauled in his first NFL touchdown reception, an aggravated Fuller popped the ball out of the Vikings wideout's hands as he sprinted across TCF Bank Stadium's east end zone. Indignant, Thielen mean-mugged Fuller, retrieved his prize, then continued on his path, eventually lofting a wobbly, one-handed toss into the corner stands.
Thielen never saw Caitlin Graboski catch the ball. But somehow, it ended up in her left hand, the same one that carries the engagement ring Thielen gave her last year.
"I wasn't very happy about it, but it is what it is," Thielen said of Fuller's faux theft, which earned a dead-ball unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. But, the Minnesota-bred up-and-comer from Detroit Lakes said, his fiancee has "better hands than me. She probably fought some people for it."
In any case, life is good for the former Minnesota State star and his family -- both present and future members.
Thielen and Graboski, a former Minnesota State soccer player, are set to tie the knot May 23, 2015. He's got a contract that runs through the end of next season. And although the chances have been few and far between, Thielen is earning every bit of the accolades few expected out of him when he cracked the Vikings' practice squad last fall.
"That's the type of kid Adam is," Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer said after his club closed out 2014 with a 13-9 victory over Chicago at the Vikings' temporary home. "It's great to see a guy from (Division II Minnesota) State come up here and get to the NFL and do the things he's been doing. I think his story is good for a whole bunch of players around the nation that, 'Hey, all I want is an opportunity.' "
"And then when he gets the opportunity, he takes advantage of it."
There's something lucid about Thielen, the classic example of an apparently overachieving small-town kid who's parlayed his skill set and mentality into a contributing role on Sundays. Some hometown-hero stories are too good to be true, especially in a state that doesn't crank out gobs of gridiron talent, but this one is.
It started in a Northern Minnesota town of fewer than 9,000. It blossomed when Thielen earned all-state honors at Detroit Lakes High his senior year and blew up regionally when he took D-2 football by storm as a receiver and return specialist.
But this is the NFL. Not the NSIC. Yet Thielen's approach is as humble and modest as the northern Minnesota town he grew up in.
"There's nothing surreal about it; it's football," Thielen said. "It's no different than playing peewee or backyard football. There's nothing different. It's the same plays, it's the same game, it's throw-and-catch, and that's all it is."
During this transitional year for the franchise, the 24-year-old's first on the active roster, he slowly hollowed out a niche for himself. Playing primarily on special teams, Thielen finished the season with 10 tackles and five catches for 69 yards -- 44 of them coming on a strike from Teddy Bridgewater on Sunday, the game's only touchdown.
Earlier this year, Thielen blocked a Panthers punt and returned it for a score. Sunday, he caught back-to-back passes after replacing Cordarrelle Patterson -- who was on the field in place of injured Jarius Wright -- and quelled a potentially devastating play by dragging down Marc Mariani from behind after a 67-yard kickoff return.
His teammates are no longer surprised at such moment-seizing.
Cornerback Xavier Rhodes saw it as soon as Thielen, undrafted, showed up for training camp at his alma mater in 2013. "He's determined. He's not going to stop with his route or anything. He has great hands, great eye coordination for the ball, watch the ball in. He's just going to attack it."
Said safety Harrison Smith: "When he first showed up, just the way he went about his business, the way he hustled, played on special teams, the way that he ran routes. He's precise. You can tell he tries to do things the right way."
It earned him a spot on the 53-man roster this fall. Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater could immediately see why.
"Adam was one of the first wide receivers that stood out to me when I arrived here," Bridgewater said. "He competed with us in rookie minicamp, and he just showed flashes ever since then."
The brightest one came in the season finale, an afternoon in frigid Minneapolis that was as much about looking into the future as it was salvaging some of the present. As the Vikings seek to make significant strides in Year 2 under Zimmer, Thielen will try and inch closer to becoming a bona fide slot man on the game's most prominent dais.
"That's how the NFL works," Thielen said. "You might not get a lot of opportunities, but when you do, you've got to make the most of them.
"You don't know when your next time will be."
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