Playing two games in five days is never ideal for any NFL team that is dealing with key injuries, and the Minnesota Vikings have, of course, been dealing with those basically the entire season. So, the turnaround after a Week 7 loss to travel to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night to kick off Week 8 was never going to be ideal.
We already know J.J. McCarthy will be the emergency No. 3 quarterback for the Vikings on Thursday night, as his return to the starting job gets postponed one more week. Anyone who missed the game against the Eagles would surely have a hard time getting healthy enough to play on a short week.
Practices over that short time between games are not at their typical intensity, so participation listings/ estimates have to be seen with that in mind.
But Wednesday's final Week 8 injury report for the Vikings would tell the story, good or bad.
The Minnesota Vikings' final Week 8 injury report has become concerning
Before leaving for Los Angeles, the Vikings released their final injury report for Week 8.
- FB C.J. Ham (hand)-Out
- EDGE Andrew Van Ginkel (neck)-Out
- OT Brian O'Neill (knee)-Questionable
- QB J.J. McCarthy (ankle)-Questionable
- RB Aaron Jones (hamstring)-Questionable (in 21-day window to come off IR)
- RB Zavier Scott (wrist)-Questionable
- OT Christian Darrisaw (knee)-Questionable
- QB Carson Wentz (shoulder)-No designation
- OG Donovan Jackson (wrist)-No designation
- DL Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (hip)-No designation
After being listed as a non-participant on Monday and Tuesday, O'Neill graduated to a limited practice on Wednesday before being officially listed as questionable. Jones was not activated from IR on Wednesday, but that could happen before the game starts on Thursday, and not being ruled out is a positive sign that he could play.
The surprise on the final injury report for the week was the addition of Darrisaw. He missed the first two games of the season as he worked his way back from a torn ACL and MCL, and he has been getting regular rest days during the practice week since he returned in Week 3. He also reached an apparent snap limit during Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns, which did not thrill head coach Kevin O'Connell.
Beyond Darrisaw popping up on the injury report on Wednesday with an issue which may or may not be related to his surgically repaired knee, ESPN's Kevin Seifert noted how the Vikings' left tackle would most likely have been listed if it were merely a rest day.
"Christian Darrisaw took regularly scheduled days off from practice before the bye and took himself out of the Browns game as he worked back from his ACL/MCL injury. But he played every snap vs. Eagles. If this were a rest day, the report would have said "not injury related."
If Darrisaw had some kind of setback with his knee during a week where the Vikings only had walkthrough practices, as it appears he has, that's not a great sign that he'll be all the way right anytime soon. At minimum, out of nowhere, missing Thursday night's game is now in play.