MANKATO, Minn. — The Vikings were back to work Wednesday, practicing for approximately two hours after having an off day Tuesday.
Wednesday's session in full pads featured a bit of everything, as the Vikings kicked off the second half of training camp with a crisp pace.
Minnesota is scheduled to have a walk-through from 10:30-11:30 a.m. and practice from 2:45-5:10 p.m. on Thursday.
Here are three observations from Wednesday's session:
1. Bradford takes command of offense
Sam Bradford was efficient, in control and on point.
The Vikings quarterback had perhaps his best session of training camp Wednesday when he executed a perfect 2-minute drill that ended in a touchdown for Minnesota's offense.
Bradford and the offense started at their own 25-yard line with 1 minutes, 38 seconds on the clock. The unit was down by six and had no timeouts.
Bradford connected with Dalvin Cook on a pair of quick passes, as the rookie running back showed strong instincts by getting out of bounds each time.
Tight end Kyle Rudolph then hauled in a 26-yard strike over the middle that brought the ball to the 21-yard-line.
After a pair of incomplete passes, Bradford made a heady move by drawing the defense offsides with a hard count.
Bradford then punctuated the drive with a gorgeous 16-yard touchdown pass with under 30 seconds left to wide receiver Stefon Diggs in the back corner of the end zone.
The sequence would have tied the game and given the Vikings the chance to take the lead on an extra point try.
Bradford was fired up after the successful drive, so much so that he ran over to Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer and knocked him to the ground with a celebratory tackle.
2. Nowhere to go
Zimmer talked multiple times this spring about wanting more negative plays on defense, challenging his run stuffers to create more tackles for loss in the backfield.
The Vikings defensive line showed their prowess Wednesday as multiple players squeezed through for big plays.
Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph got through to Cook on a goal-line situation, while defensive tackles Shamar Stephen and Tom Johnson also made solid plays.
Rookie defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson later knifed into the backfield for a negative run play.
3. Kai and Koehn get their kicks
The position battle between kickers Kai Forbath and Marshall Koehn has been a close call for months.
Both kickers were unable to separate themselves from the other Wednesday as they each made three of four field goal attempts in team drills.
Koehn was up first and drilled tries from 35 and 40 yards. Forbath responded by making his kicks from the same distances.
Koehn then trotted back out on the field and made his first attempt from 43 yards, only to push his 48-yard try to the left.
Forbath then hit his 43-yard attempt, and also pushed his 48-yard try wide left.
Both kickers are 6-for-8 on field goal tries in team drills during camp.
