Mild-mannered Adam Thielen can be quite the ornery cuss between the white lines of an NFL field.
But, sorry Adam, if sideline tiffs with Bill Belichick were an Olympic sport, you'd have to settle for bronze. And that's just among three notable Belichickian Battles witnessed by this observer going back to Week 1 of the 1992 season.
In the Vikings' 24-10 loss to the Patriots on Sunday, Thielen took vehement offense when Patriots safety Patrick Chung suddenly collapsed because of an injury at precisely the moment Belichick needed more time to study the homefield replay board and challenge the spot on a fourth-and-1 play.
Not that the Patriots bend the rules or anything (wink, wink), but it did look somewhat suspect. So Thielen exploded with objection about 10 yards from Belichick.
Lip readers have said Belichick told Thielen to shut the heck up. Or something to that effect.
What happened next wouldn't have happened in the early '90s in Cleveland: one of Belichick's players stepping in to defend him. This kind of player devotion tends to happen more often when you're not an arrogant, unproven 39-year-old but a 66-year-old living legend with a record five Super Bowls and more wins than anyone not named Shula or Halas.
It was Kyle Van Noy who got in Thielen's face as the latter jabbed an accusatory finger in Belichick's direction.
"I thought that was the coolest thing that KV had Bill's back right away," said Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty. "Bill's fiery. We see it every day, so I think it's probably a lot cooler for [the media] to see it."