The Minnesota Vikings suffered a 27-20 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. This adds to the devastating start to the season they have had. They are currently third in the NFC North. The Vikings have lost four games already in the season and have managed to win just one.
And to add more to their misery, star wide receiver Justin Jefferson was injured in the game against the Chiefs. Jefferson suffered a strained right hamstring. After examinations, it has been declared that Justin Jefferson will miss a minimum of four game weeks. It doesn’t seem that he will be returning before Game Week 10.
It’s a huge loss to the Minnesota Vikings who are significantly dependent on the All Pro receiver. During the second half, Justin Jefferson could be seen grabbing his hamstring after exiting early. These are worrying signs for the Vikings indeed as hamstring injuries can be troublesome. The Vikings will place Justin Jefferson on the injured reserve.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell doesn’t want to rush Justin Jefferson back
Speaking on Justin Jefferson’s injury, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said that he is trying to be careful with Jefferson’s recovery. While it will be a big miss for them, he doesn’t want to rush Jefferson’s comeback. This might increase the chances of not having proper recovery time and create problems later on.
“We’re going to have to medically make a good decision and help almost protect him from himself a little bit in a way where we’ve got to take care of him and get him back to 100 percent,” O’Connell said.
Vikings’ WR Justin Jefferson now is expected to miss these four games:
🏈at Chicago
🏈49ers
🏈at Green Bay
🏈at Atlanta
He then will be re-evaluated to see whether he would have to miss more time.— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 10, 2023
Another aspect which arises is how will other teams look to take them on in Jefferson’s absence. O’Connell didn’t fail to touch upon this point and knows that other teams will change plans against them as he said – “whether people decide to play us a little more straight up or true, how we run it maybe against some looks that, quite frankly, we don’t get a whole lot.”
What is surprising is that Justin Jefferson has not missed a single game since his rookie season back in 2020. He has played 53 consecutive games and has not missed one due to injury. Staying continuously fit for three and a half years at such a high level is a remarkable fear for sure. In the absence of Justin Jefferson, rookie Jordan Addison will be coming up who is a first round draft pick this year.