Kyle Rudolph's Pushoff Against the Saints Robbed Us Of the Funniest Trade Ever - Zone Coverage (2024)

Five years ago, Kyle Rudolph made one of the greatest catches in Minnesota Vikings history.

It was the 2019 NFC Wild Card game against the New Orleans Saints. The Vikings were in the heat of an overtime battle, with the winner heading to San Francisco. Kirk Cousins had just connected with Adam Thielen on a 43-yard bomb that put Minnesota at the three-yard line and the doorstep of victory.

After two failed Dalvin Cook runs, the Vikings faced a third-and-goal. Cousins dropped back and threw a fade to the back corner of the end zone. With a subtle, yet effective push, Rudolph jumped up and grabbed the game-winning touchdown.

Vikings fans were euphoric. They had just sent the Saints and their notable villains – Sean Payton, Cameron Jordan, Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, etc. – to Cancun for the offseason. Cousins let out his trademark “You like that?” scream for the first time in a Minnesota uniform. All was right in the world — until five years later.

Some fans would say Rudolph’s touchdown held the Vikings back from an era where they could have moved on from Zimmer and Cousins’ toxic marriage and built a brighter future. But what many don’t remember is the circ*mstances entering that game and how Rudolph’s shove robbed us of one of the funniest trades in NFL history.

The 2019 Vikings were an interesting case study. They started season 6-2 but were a hot mess under the surface. After a Week 4 loss to the Chicago Bears, Stefon Diggs and Thielen questioned Kevin Stefanski’s offense, leading Diggs to skip practice a few days later and utter his “truth to all rumors” line.

Thielen suffered a hamstring injury a few weeks later, and the Vikings lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. While there’s no shame in losing at Arrowhead, this one hit differently. Patrick Mahomes was still out with an ankle injury, leaving Matt Moore to come in and steal the win.

The Vikings finished 10-6, but nobody thought they were contenders. They needed a 20-point halftime comeback to beat a 7-9 Denver Broncos team at home, and the Green Bay Packers blew them out in a Week 16 matchup that determined the winner of the NFC North.

Few gave the Vikings a chance that afternoon in the Superdome, which started to generate whispers about Zimmer’s status.

Zimmer was two years removed from leading the Vikings to the NFC Championship game, but his abrasive style was already wearing thin. Cousins struggled to mesh with his head coach after signing a three-year, $84 million deal in the spring of 2018 when many people believed the Vikings should have been a better team than they were.

At the same time, one of the league’s marquee jobs had just opened up. The Dallas Cowboys were firing Jason Garrett after 10 underwhelming years as head coach, and Jerry Jones was looking to make a splash with his next hire. Reports linked then-Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley and Mike McCarthy to the Cowboys. Still, people couldn’t stop fixating on the possibility of Jones attempting to acquire Zimmer from the Vikings.

While Zimmer had many stops during his coaching career, it took off when he was in Dallas. Zimmer joined Bill Parcells’ staff as a defensive coordinator in 2000. He spent seven seasons with the Cowboys, leading them to the NFL’s No. 1 defense in yards and No. 2 defense in points during the 2003 season.

It made all the sense in the world for the Cowboys to go after Zimmer. Still, he was under contract with the Vikings. TikTok wasn’t a thing then, but Zimmer’s status became the 2019 version of “Top Five Trade Destinations for Justin Jefferson.”

On December 28, 2019, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote that the Cowboys were expected to move on from Garrett and that they could look to Riley, Matt Rhule, Urban Meyer, Ron Rivera, and others. But he also said to “put nothing past Jerry Jones” and that trading for Zimmer could be possible.

The next day, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio dropped three names to keep an eye on to fill the Cowboys’ vacancy, including Dan Campbell, Gary Kubiak, and Zimmer.

Two days later, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports suggested the Cowboys could hire Riley as their head coach and acquire Zimmer to become their defensive coordinator. Then ESPN’s Dan Graziano took his turn, saying the Cowboys were looking for a defensive head coach. However, he added that he would be watching the Saints-Vikings Wild Card game and that the Cowboys could “take a run” at Zimmer.

The rumors even prompted the Wilfs to make a statement, giving Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman a vote of confidence.

Forget the hot seat. Zimmer was sitting on an active volcano heading into his Wild Card matchup against the Saints. If they had lost that game, it would have been easy to see Jones coughing up draft capital to land Zimmer in Dallas to work with America’s Team.

The haul wouldn’t have been as large as when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave up two first-round picks and two second-round picks to acquire Jon Gruden in 2002. Still, this is Jerry Jones we’re talking about. If anything, the Vikings could have asked for more than the sixth-round pick the Bucs gave up to get Bruce Arians from the Arizona Cardinals in January 2019, and Jones may have been willing to go above and beyond to get his guy.

So, let’s say Jones gave up a first-round pick to get Zimmer. Assuming the Vikings were going to trade Diggs anyway because he had issues with Stefanski’s offense, the Vikings could have had three first-round picks in the 2020 draft: No. 17 (from Dallas), No. 22 (from the Buffalo Bills), and their pick at No. 25.

Dallas used the No. 17-overall pick on CeeDee Lamb, but Spielman’s reaction to taking Jalen Reagor at 21 suggests the Vikings had Jefferson higher on their board. Minnesota was also looking for offensive line help entering the draft and could have used their later capital to trade up to take Tristan Wirfs before the Bucs took him at No. 13 overall.

However, quarterback would have been the biggest question here. If Cousins had never completed the pass to Thielen or the touchdown to Rudolph, Minnesota could have been looking to replace their quarterback who couldn’t win the big game.

That could have led the Vikings to stay at No. 25 and take Jordan Love or wait until later in the draft to select Jalen Hurts, who the Philadelphia Eagles took with pick 53. They also could have had an opportunity to make a Godfather offer where the Vikings could have traded up to take Tua Tagovailoa (No. 5 overall to the Miami Dolphins) or Justin Herbert (No. 6 overall to the Los Angeles Chargers).

Suppose Zimmer’s trade to Dallas resulted in the Vikings getting a franchise quarterback. It could have become the reverse version of the Herschel Walker trade, with Vikings getting premium capital for a coach they would fire anyway. Still, we all know what happened next.

Zimmer created one of the greatest game plans of his career, shifting Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen to the interior and using Andrew Sendejo as a slot corner. With the defense making key stops, Zimmer rode Cook to get the lead and relied on Cousins to make two key throws to send the Vikings to a beatdown in San Francisco.

Cousins and Zimmer got extensions, and the two bickered throughout the 2020 and 2021 seasons before Minnesota fired Zimmer and Spielman. They hired Kevin O’Connell to take Cousins to a new level, and Zimmer stewed at his ranch before returning to the Cowboys as a defensive coordinator this season.

Zimmer teaming with McCarthy, who eventually got the Dallas head coaching job in 2020, will be like Squidward meeting Patrick Star. Still, it’s not quite what could have been. And it would have resulted in one of the funniest trades in Vikings history.