Tom Pelissero

USA TODAY Sports

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. – Sam Bradford used part of his weekly media session to call for more downfield passes in the Minnesota Vikings’ offense.

The quarterback’s message was just as clear to the Vikings’ battered offensive line as preparations began for Thursday night’s showdown with the NFL’s hottest team.

“This week especially, (Bradford)’s put a lot of emphasis on us that we need to do more,” Vikings guard Alex Boone told USA TODAY Sports. “He came to us and said, ‘Hey, listen, we need you guys to sustain, and we need you guys to be tough, and you’ve got to be some bad (expletives) this week for me, because there’s some things I want to do and there’s some plays that might take longer.’

“When the big dog asks you to do something, you never say no.”

But can the NFL’s most injury-ravaged protection unit really handle that assignment starting Thursday against a fast, hard-working Dallas Cowboys defense that’s done enough to back Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott and company during a 10-game winning streak?

And is chucking it deep really the answer for a defense-driven Vikings team that has lost five of six games (plus its offensive coordinator) since a 5-0 start, despite Bradford playing the most efficient football of his career – one damaging interception on Thanksgiving in Detroit notwithstanding?

Let’s take the second question first, because these things are connected and contextual.

Bradford completed 31 of 37 passes against the Lions, but he averaged just over 6 yards a throw, the last picked off by Darius Slay to set up Detroit’s winning field goal.

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The Vikings also were without top receiver Stefon Diggs, the Lions played soft coverage that minimized opportunities downfield and coordinator Pat Shurmur – who took over after Norv Turner’s surprise resignation Nov. 2 – wasn’t going to ask Bradford to hold the ball and force things.

If not for some self-inflicted wounds, such as a backup center’s premature snap and backup tackle’s chop block that derailed a red-zone drive, the Vikings might have won without a wide receiver posting a reception of more than 10 yards. But anytime you rely on 12-play drives to get in the end zone, that’s 12 chances for somebody to mess it up.

“I think we’ve got to find a way to create more explosive plays,” Bradford said, “whether that’s mixing in more of our play-action game, which we’ve kind of gotten away from. We’re trying to create some of these plays with some deeper-route concepts – that’s one way.”

After how things went in Detroit with few downfield shots in the game plan, Bradford said, there’s a realization that balance is needed.

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The Vikings certainly seemed more aggressive in Bradford’s first four starts – all wins – after acquiring him from the Philadelphia Eagles in a blockbuster trade that can’t be fairly judged at this stage. (They would’ve struggled to win six games with Shaun Hill, and the deal had implications beyond this season, with Teddy Bridgewater still months away from knowing when his surgically repaired knee might be ready to return.)

Yet now they face a Cowboys defense coordinated by Rod Marinelli, a Tampa-2 descendant who plays a ton of zone coverage on early downs and doesn’t take many risks, challenging the offense to be patient and generate big plays by breaking tackles.

Bradford pointed out the Washington Redskins had success throwing downfield in their Thanksgiving loss at Dallas. But schemes like Marinelli’s can make an offense proceed as the Vikings have increasingly done under Shurmur: short, quick passes that substitute for a running game impotent even before Adrian Peterson got hurt and cover up the weaknesses of that short-handed o-line.

Without starting tackles Matt Kalil and Andre Smith since early October, among other issues, the Vikings may also play Thursday without center Joe Berger, who hasn’t practiced this week because of a concussion. Bradford, whose mobility isn’t a strength to begin with, has been limited by an ankle injury.

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What Bradford and everybody else in the building surely know is they need to score more points against a Cowboys team averaging 29.7 a game during its winning streak. The Vikings have scored 30 points twice all season and are averaging 16.5 since their slide began.

Diggs’ expected return is a boost. He’s a supreme catch-and-run threat. When a serious guy like Bradford issues this type of challenge, though, you can bet he’s not planning to throw all slants and screens Thursday either.

“It can’t all just be 2-yard out routes. Some of them are going to have to be 20-yard dig routes or you’re going to have to do some (aggressive) things,” Boone said. “It’ll be fun when the dog fight’s happening. But I hope that we can sustain, like we told him we would.”

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.

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