Vikings being cautious with Adam Thielen's hamstring injury

Coach Mike Zimmer said Adam Thielen didn't suffer a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury, but the Pro Bowl receiver missed a second straight practice Thursday and now appears likely to sit out a fourth straight game when the Vikings play the Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.

"He's getting really close, but there's really no sense to push it," Zimmer said. "Like today, there's really no sense to push it. We'll see how it goes next week or, uh, tomorrow."

Whether that last sentence was a slip of the lip or not, who knows. But one thing is certain.

"He's frustrated," Zimmer said.

Thielen played nine snaps against the Lions on Oct. 20. His ninth snap was a 25-yard touchdown pass that jump-started a 42-30 win.

He sat out the Washington game four days later before trying to play the following Sunday at Kansas City. His hamstring lasted seven snaps.

Thielen was limited in practice last week and was ruled out Saturday.

"If the MRI looks pretty good, you trust the player. If the player says he can play, then you let him play. That's kind of what happened a few weeks ago against Kansas City. … The MRI looked good, the player said he could play. Started to play and he couldn't end up playing. So we've been cautious with it. We've had a couple more MRIs."

Left tackle Riley Reiff remains in the NFL's concussion protocol and did not practice Thursday. If he can't play, Rashod Hill will make his 18th start in four seasons as a Viking, including playoffs.

Hill has 13 starts at right tackle and four at left. He hasn't started a game this season but started eight last year. He stepped in for Reiff for the second half of Monday night's game in Seattle.

"Rashod has proven to be very versatile," offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski said. "You saw [Monday] that he came in and I thought performed pretty well."

Meanwhile, nose tackle Linval Joseph (knee) was listed as a full participant in Thursday's practice after sitting out Wednesday.

Two concussions in a six-week span landed linebacker Ben Gedeon on injured reserve last week.

"He might have pushed it a little too far," Zimmer said. "He should have just been a little more patient with it. He passed all the tests, but sometimes it reoccurs on certain things. So it was bothering him for a while."

Gedeon suffered the first one against the Giants in Week 5. He missed two games and then played in four, suffering a second concussion against the Broncos.

Special teams coordinator Marwan Maalouf said he was to blame for Seattle's 29-yard run on a fake field goal in Monday night's game.