NFL
Bears - Vikings Monday Night Football injury report: Will Justin Jefferson play?
Monday Night Football is upon us as the Chicago Bears take on the Minnesota Vikings: here is the latest injury news.
Vikings superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson has once again been listed as questionable for Monday night’s game against the Bears (8:15pm ET, 5:15pm ET), and the team are awaiting both medical and personal opinion on the injury.
If Jefferson were to miss the game, it would be his seventh so far this season. The Vikings have until 3 p.m. central time (4p.m. ET, 1p.m. PT) on Monday 27 to make a decision on whether or not they’re going to activate Jefferson from IR.
Bears - Vikings:
What injury does Justin Jefferson have?
The 24-year-old suffered a hamstring injury against the Chiefs in Week 5 of the season, causing him to miss the on-field action and watch from the sidelines. It was a simple yet unfortunate slip as his boot failed to connect with the turf and although the player didn’t take a fall, the damage was already done in a split second.
“It’s the medical opinions much more than my own,” a cautious Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said on Saturday. “Because it’s something where, I see Justin Jefferson step on a football field, he’s going to look ready to go, and I’m lucky I don’t have to make that call. My role in this is making sure the communication between the medical staff, our trainers, Justin, and myself is top notch and everybody’s on the same page, minute to minute, as he takes more and more reps like he has. We feel like we’re in a good spot on that.”
When will Jefferson return?
There is some good news as the Vikings have a bye next weekend and that break may have come at the perfect moment : it means Jefferson will have an extra 13 days to prepare to make his return against the Raiders in Week 14. The plan of caution that the Vikings have employed so far in terms of fitness issues suggests that, even despite the hopefulness of the comments above, we won’t see Jefferson make his grand return this week.
Bears - Vikings injury update
Also questionable for the Vikings are CB Akayleb Evans, who is out with a calf strain, and DT Khyiris Tonga, who has soreness in his knee.
As for the Bears, on Sunday, they downgraded RB D’Onta Foreman (ankle/shin), OL Larry Borom (illness) and CB Tyrique Stevenson (ankle), while LB Noah Sewell (knee) is still out with an issue he suffered last week.