Vikings getting a starting offensive lineman back for their next game

The Minnesota Vikings have removed Pat Elflein from injured reserve.

Not performing at a high level is a tradition the Minnesota Vikings offensive line has been carrying on for a number of years now. Any time the Vikings have struggled during a recent season, the offensive line failing to do even an average job is usually one of the main causes.

This year hasn’t been much different for the guys in charge of keeping Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins off of the ground. The Vikings offensive tackles have actually been performing pretty well, but the play of the interior of the line (specifically the two guards) has been terrible this season.

Well, for their upcoming matchup with the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota is getting some more offensive line help after the team announced the activation of guard Pat Elflein on Monday.

How much will Pat Elflein’s return help the Minnesota Vikings?

Elflein is coming off a not-so-great 2019 campaign as the Vikings starting left guard, so it’s difficult to determine if his return this week will help the team or not.

He began the season as Minnesota’s starting right guard, but he’s only appeared in one game so far after injuring his hand following the team’s first matchup. In his place, the Vikings have used Dru Samia and rookie Ezra Cleveland at right guard and to say that it hasn’t gone well would be a large understatement.

Minnesota fans probably never thought they would be excited about the return of Elflein following his poor performance in 2019 and 2018, but here we are.

At the very least, Elflein has a lot of experience as both a starter and with the Vikings’ current offensive scheme. Even with Minnesota switching offensive coordinators this year, most of the blocking concepts from the 2019 offense remain the same.

So will Elflein’s return make any sort of impact when the Vikings take on the Packers next Sunday or will he just continue to disappoint as a blocker as he did prior to his injury?