Last Sunday, the Vikings ran their first fake punt in nearly a decade. It paid off with backup safety Andrew Sendejo, the right wing in the punt formation, running 48 yards before tackling himself at the Bears' 7-yard line. The well-executed fake set up a Teddy Bridgewater touchdown pass.

Yesterday, special teams coordinator Mike Priefer explained why the play worked — and why it had been so long since the Vikings ran a fake punt.

Priefer, who is in his fourth season with the Vikings, said that head coach Mike Zimmer is more aggressive than this predecessor, Leslie Frazier, when it comes to trickery on special teams.

Back in the spring, as Zimmer was just settling in, he asked Priefer and his assistant, Ryan Ficken, to come up with some clever plays to exploit any weaknesses they would see on special teams.

"We've been more creative and Ryan Ficken, my assistant, does a great job because he's got an offensive mind," Priefer said. "He has an offensive background so he and I tinker with stuff and talk about things and look at what people are doing on punt return and what they're doing on field goal block and get ideas every week."

On the fake against the Bears, wide receiver Adam Thielen, who was lined up as the upback, caught a direct snap and handed it off to Sendejo, who ran right to left from his right wing spot. The trick play was executed to perfection. It was also designed to perfection, as Priefer kept Thielen and Sendejo in their normal spots to handle the ball to ensure the Bears weren't tipped off.

"I think we've probably worked on it the past month," Priefer said. "Wanted to run it earlier. It was just a great opportunity to run it — good time and area of the field. We have an aggressive head coach who wants to run those things and that's great for me. It obviously turned out well for us."

Priefer said the Vikings typically have two or three fakes in the special-teams game plan every week. And if their opponent shows the look they are hoping for, they will sometimes bust one out.

"I don't think I have to sell [Zimmer]. Like I said, he's been aggressive since he got here. He asked me back in the offseason about running fakes — field goal fakes, punt fakes, surprise onsides — and it has forced me to be more creative, which is good," Priefer said. "It's a good opportunity for me to get our guys excited about a big play like that, and obviously they were very excited to run it and succeed with it."