Bo Richter ‘continues to excel’ as Vikings special teams come off roller-coaster performance against Bears

Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels knows he can only hold on to young players who are developing as part of his unit for so long.

Rookie linebacker Bo Richter is one Daniels is cherishing while he can.

“He continues to excel in his role,” Daniels said Tuesday at TCO Performance Center. “Surely enough, this is usually how it goes. You just keep dominating, keep having an impact on special teams, and surely enough you’ll mature and ‘Coach Hat’ [Daniels’ nickname] will be sending you on your way to go do bigger and better things on defense.

“And that’s where he’s heading.”

Richter, a undrafted free agent signing out of Air Force, made one of a pair of standout positive special teams plays for the Vikings in their overtime win against the Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Those plays were negated by the Bears late in an 11-point comeback to tie the score in the final seconds of regulation.

Richter, who the Vikings signed as an undrafted free agent this spring, fell on a muffed punt recovery in the third quarter to set up a five-play, 15-yard scoring drive. Chicago return man DeAndre Carter waved for teammates to move out of the way but was struck by the ball himself, allowing Richter to recover it and the Vikings to regain possession.

The Vikings had two other punt recoveries off muffs earlier this season that led to no points.

“I was just finally glad that we finally got a muffed punt,” Daniels said. “I was just praying and hoping that ball didn’t roll out of bounds. It was good for him to get on that.”

Earlier, in the second quarter, Vikings defensive lineman Jerry Tillery blocked a 48-yard field-goal attempt by Cairo Santos. Brian Asamoah recovered and returned it 22 yards.

Daniels said blocking field goals has been a post-practice emphasis in recent weeks, and he felt the line quickly got off the ball and was able to penetrate deep into the Bears backfield, making it easier for Tillery to get a hand on the ball.

The special teams success dwindled late in the game, with the Vikings giving up two big plays on kickoffs to hand Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and company prime field position to tie the score.

Carter made up for his earlier mistake with a 55-yard kickoff return that kick-started the Bears’ comeback. Daniels said the intent was for Parker Romo to boot the ball out of the end zone on the kickoff, but Romo slightly toeing it into shifting winds hung up the ball. Carter caught it inside the 5-yard line, took off just outside the left hash and shook off four defenders before being brought down by outside linebacker Dallas Turner at the Vikings’ 40-yard line.

“At the end of the day, we just gotta do a great job of defeating blocks,” Daniels said. “That’s what it boils down to, and that starts with me making sure I’m emphasizing it during the week.”

Then, after the Bears scored eight plays later and added a two-point conversion to make the score 27-24 with 22 seconds left, an onside kick by Santos hit the back of tight end Johnny Mundt’s foot and the Bears recovered. Santos’ 48-yard field goal as time expired sent the game to overtime.

Some redemption for the special teams unit came when Romo nailed a 29-yard field goal to win the game in overtime; long snapper Jake McQuaide made sure to retrieve the winning ball for Romo amid the celebration.

Daniels pointed out that Romo, who the Vikings signed Nov. 5 when starting kicker Will Reichard moved to injury reserve because of a quad injury, has been tested in his first few weeks of NFL action.

“This is gonna be the first time he actually gets to hit indoors,” Daniels said of Sunday’s game against the Cardinals at U.S. Bank Stadium. “He’s hit basically three outside road games.”