Notre Dame alum Kyle Rudolph shines in Vikings win over Denver

Notre Dame alum Kyle Rudolph played a key role in a come-from-behind Vikings victory against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

The Minnesota Vikings are serious contenders in the NFC in 2019, and former Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph is a huge reason why.

On a team that relies heavily on tight ends in the passing attack, Rudolph has hauled in 29 catches for 251 yards and five touchdowns. That scoring total already ties his fourth best season throughout his nine year career — and he’s still got five games left to play during the 2019 regular season.

On Sunday, Rudolph came up huge, catching all five of his targets for 67 yards and what would eventually be the game-winning touchdown.

All five of Rudolph’s touchdown grabs have come during the last five games. He also has 20 catches during that same span. During his first six games of the 2019 season, he had only nine catches and was only targeted 11 times.

Rudolph has now been targeted at least three times and has at least three catches in six straight games. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Vikings are one of the hottest teams in the NFL during that time.

As it stands, the Minnesota Vikings would be the No. 5 team in the NFC Playoffs if they were to start today. That said, they are within a half game of the Green Bay Packers for the lead in the NFC North. If they win the division, they’ll be squarely in the hunt for the No. 1 overall seed, meaning the road to the Super Bowl could go through Minnesota.

Between what Rudolph and Harrison Smith are doing to help the Vikings and what Jaylon Smith and Zack Martin are doing for the Cowboys, there’s a pretty good chance we could see a couple of the biggest stars in recent Notre Dame history representing the NFC in Super Bowl LIV.