CHICAGO - A unique touchdown celebration by the Vikings led to a debate in the locker room after the game, but not about football.
Following Kyle Rudolph's touchdown in the third quarter against the Bears, Rudolph and several teammates celebrated with an impromptu end-zone game of "duck, duck, goose."
Or is that "duck, duck, gray duck?"
Even the official Vikings Twitter account went with 'gray duck,' which brought the debate to social media.
Duck!
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 10, 2017
Duck!
Gray Duck! pic.twitter.com/EitWZQX09D
"When you give a child choice, they are going to buy into it and believe you a little bit more," said Mark Blegen, Dean of Health Sciences for St. Catherine University. "By saying 'duck, duck, grey duck' or 'duck, duck, purple duck, orange duck,' giving them some choice in the game, that's going to motivate them."
Teammates disagreed on the proper name for the childhood game, with wide receiver and Minnesota native Adam Thielen insisting it's "gray duck;" even providing a detailed explanation as to why.
"Yeah, 'duck, duck, gray duck,' because then you can deceive people with, you know, purple duck, yellow duck, and then when you say 'gray duck,' they gotta chase you," Thielen said. "It's more fun."
"Yep, he's got it. He's spot on," Blegen said.
Though he's not aware of any academic studies specifically looking at the difference between the gray duck and goose games, Blegen says there is a lot of science backing him up.
"Giving kids ownership and the ability to make choice, they're going to engage in exercise for longer periods of time and hopefully develop a lifelong habit," Blegen said.
"For me, it's 'duck, duck goose,'" said Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph. "I don't know what Adam's talking about with this gray duck and purple duck and all kinds of other things, but seems like it's a Minnesota thing because Michael Floyd also was on the 'duck, duck gray duck' band."
"Where I come from in Texas, it's goose," said Vikings quarterback Case Keenum. "Kyle (Rudolph) called it 'duck, duck, goose' in the huddle right before the play."
The touchdown that sparked the celebration was key in the Vikings' defeat of the Bears 20-17 at Soldier Field.
And as this debate proves, old habits are hard to kick, no matter where your allegiance is.