Did rookie outside linebacker Dallas Turner break the ice on a December breakthrough Monday?

Marcus Mosher of the 33rd Team tabbed Turner on Friday as one of five players with breakout potential over the final month of the NFL regular season — a very prescient take after Monday Night Football.

For the second time in his rookie crusade, Turner received 30-plus defensive snaps, and for the second time and first since his NFL debut at the New York Giants, the No. 17 overall draft choice notched a sack.

Turner's takedown in the fourth quarter paired with Jonathan Greenard's strip-sack of Caleb Williams in the first quarter and happened almost as fast. (OK, so that's a slight exaggeration, as Greenard got to Williams in 2.41 seconds according to Next Gen Stats, awarding him the fifth-fastest sack in the NFL this season.)

Anyhow, on Turner's prime-time highlight, he looked like a budding star – bendy, explosive, skilled, calculated and strong – almost as if he's closely studied Greenard and Co. across the first 14 games.

With 8:53 left in Minnesota's 30-12 rout of Chicago, the 21-year-old Turner badly beat 2023 No. 10 overall draft pick Darnell Wright around the right edge. Turner blended a hesitation step with a hand swipe, dipped underneath Wright's pass set, touched his knees to the turf and launched into Williams.

It turned a third-and-3 into a fourth-and-12 – and put a bow on the Vikings beatdown of the Bears.

Also, it was more proof that Turner is trending in the right direction in December.

Monday night marked Turner's third game in a row with a snap share on defense greater than 30 percent. In fact, his 33 snaps (49%) was his biggest allotment since handling 36 (51%) in the opener.

Turner's two tackles against the Bears demonstrated his versatility. Prior to the sack, he recorded a solo tackle of Keenan Allen after dropping into the hook/curl zone and reacting to a short pass in the flats. In other words, Turner is not a one-trick pony. He's improved toeing at the line and lining up off-ball in the box.

The splash plays, ala his drilling of Kirk Cousins as the Falcons QB released a pass in the nick of time on a run-fake attempt in Week 14, and his takedown of Williams in the final nine minutes Monday, are bound to increase as Turner further assimilates himself into Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores' scheme.

For what it's worth, the other players ready to "break out" on Mosher's list are Kansas City WR Xavier Worthy, Indianapolis QB Anthony Richardson, Buffalo TE Dalton Kincaid and Chargers RB Kimani Vidal.

Pro Bowl check-in

What do Andrew DePaola, Justin Jefferson, Byron Murphy, Jr. and Andrew Van Ginkel have in common?

Notably, the Vikings quartet currently leads NFC peers at their positions with six days left to vote for the 2025 Pro Bowl Games. DePaola and Jefferson are top overall vote-earners at long snapper and wide receiver, while Murphy and Van Ginkel, respectively, are behind a couple of AFC cornerbacks and outside linebackers.

Greenard, who delivered a momentous strip-sack on Monday Night Football, slots in behind Van Ginkel on the latest Pro Bowl ballot. They're one of three pass-rush tandems in the top 10, along with Washington's Dante Fowler, Jr., and Frankie Luvu, and Baltimore's Kyle Van Noy and Odafe Oweh.

By the way, Greenard is 1.5 sacks shy of matching his career high of 12.5 set last year, and Van Ginkel already has improved his single-season personal best to 9.0. They've combined for 31 quarterback hits.

DePaola and Jefferson are positioned well for their third and fourth trips to the Pro Bowl. The 37-year-old DePaola has been elected each of the past two seasons; Jefferson, 25, was picked to go in three straight (2020-22) and recently became the first player under 26 to reach 7,000 career receiving yards.

Other NFC receivers in the Pro Bowl top 10 vote right now include Detroit's Amon-Ra St. Brown (No. 3), Washington's Terry McLaurin (4), Dallas' CeeDee Lamb (5), Philadelphia's A.J. Brown (9) and Green Bay's Jayden Reed (10). Jefferson ranks second in the NFL with 1,243 yards and 10^th in catches with 82.

At cornerback, Murphy is third overall to Baltimore's Marlon Humphrey and Denver's Patrick Surtain II. Murphy has intercepted six passes this season – the most by a Viking since Anthony Harris had six in 2019 and the most by a Vikings cornerback since Jimmy Hitchcock ledgered seven in the 1998 campaign.

Here's a glance at the best-of-the-rest portion of Minnesota's roster gaining Pro Bowl traction: fullback C.J. Ham and special teams ace Trent Sherfield, Sr., are second on NFC ballots; celebration buddies Camryn Bynum and Joshua Metellus are fourth at free safety and strong safety; center Garrett Bradbury is fifth, and Sam Darnold and Aaron Jones, Sr., are fifth and seventh at QB and RB.

If you've enjoyed Minnesota's 12-2 start or individual performances of players, be sure to support their path to the Pro Bowl Games by voting on Twitter/X using the hashtag #ProBowlVote in addition to a player's first and last name, or that same hashtag accompanied with a player's social handle. Yes, reposts also count as votes. So if advocacy for Vikings players pops up on your timeline, do your part and share.

Voting on X counts double on Dec. 22 and 23, when fan voting concludes.

Digital voting (Vikings.com/probowl) is still active as well.