It wasn't the biggest injury headline to come out of Week 1 for the Minnesota Vikings, but there was clear concern about running back Jordan Mason's thumb injury heading toward Week 2 against the Chicago Bears.
On Tuesday, the Vikings brought running backs Jerome Ford and Kenny McIntosh in for a workout. No one was immediately signed the same day, seemingly pending Mason's ability to practice, as on-field preparations for the Bears started on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, before practice, head coach Kevin O'Connell announced that Mason will go on IR. In related moves, Deejay Dallas has been signed to the 53-man roster, and Ford to the practice squad.
We need to see it stick, but O'Connell backed the idea that the run game will be a more prominent part of the Vikings' offense in Week 1. As Alec Lewis of The Athletic noted, they ran the ball 27 times while trailing last Sunday, the second-highest figure in that situation during O'Connell's tenure.
The commitment to the run has to continue against the Bears. Carson Wentz is on track to start under center if Kyler Murray can't go, and the ground game will obviously benefit him. But Chicago also gave up 5.7 yards per carry to the Carolina Panthers in Week 1.
Aaron Jones' history against the Bears sooths immediate concerns about Jordan Mason's injury
Ideally, given how he's been perpetually banged up over the last couple of seasons and that he's 31, the Vikings wouldn't need to lean on Aaron Jones as their lead back. But Dallas hasn't been around long, Ford is brand-new to the team, and Demond Claiborne's role is naturally unclear after he was inactive in Week 1, so here we are.
Of course, since he played for the Green Bay Packers before coming to the Vikings, Jones has plenty of history against the Bears. In fact, he has played more games against them (17) than he has against any other team.
In those 17 games against the Bears, a season's worth of matchups as it coincidentally is, Jones has 997 rushing yards (4.7 yards per carry) with 40 receptions for 383 yards and 14 total touchdowns (nine rushing, five receiving).
Narrowing to his four games against the Bears as a Viking, Jones has had 16 or more carries three times, with at least 67 yards from scrimmage in all four. He has topped 80 yards from scrimmage three times.
With all of that, a fantasy-related note from Jamey Eisenberg of CBS Sports isn't a shocker.
"Jordan Mason (thumb) is hurt heading into Week 2, which could give Aaron Jones more work against the Bears. And he loves facing Chicago. Jones has played the Bears 17 times in his career, and he's scored at least 10 PPR points in 14 of those outings while averaging 14.8 PPR points per game over that span."
As we saw over the two seasons before this one, you can give Jones too much work. But at least for the first game Mason will miss, feeding him as much as is plausible is an order against a team he has had a lot of success against.
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