Early in this year’s iteration of the football artificial universe, it seemed records would fall left and right. Patrick Mahomes and Matt Ryan were on a pace for the passing-yards record of 5,477 yards in a season, held by Peyton Manning. Mahomes was on a pace for the passing-touchdowns record of 55 in a season, also by Manning.

Early on Adam Thielen of the Vikings, a favorite of this column—he’s undrafted out of Division 2 Minnesota State, where he played at a high-school-sized stadium, capacity 7,000—was on a pace to set the all-time NFL record for receiving yards in a season.