At 1-4, the Vikings are falling further from the playoff conversation and now they have to worry about whether Justin Jefferson will be on the field next Sunday in Chicago.
“I’ll keep you guys updated on that. It’s still very early. We’ll see where he’s at as we move along here and kind of diagnose exactly what that injury is and what that timeline looks like,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said of his star wide receiver after Minnesota’s 27-20 loss to the Chiefs.
Jefferson left the game in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury. It appeared to happen when he slipped on the turf in the red zone as the Vikings were driving and trailing by seven with just over five minutes to go.
“We’ll get him back as soon as we possibly can,” O’Connell said. “There won’t be a better teammate in that locker room during the time [he’s out.] Hopefully we have him back this week.”
According to David J. Chao, who goes by ProFootballDoc on social media, his diagnosis based on the video leads to believe Jefferson’s hamstring “could linger multiple weeks depending on severity.”
#JustinJefferson slips on turf and suffers right hamstring strain. Return thoughts:https://t.co/4glTCeyzsT pic.twitter.com/FOh6JVpcC9
— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) October 8, 2023
Meanwhile, O’Connell says he need to see the game tape before he can come to conclusions about a pair of pass interference calls that went against the Vikings.
Late in the third quarter, the Chiefs faced 4th-and-1 and Patrick Mahomes threw deep and Harrison Smith was flagged for defensive pass interference. On the replay, it appeared Smith avoided contact with Marquez Valdez-Scantling.
This was called DPI on Harrison Smith on fourth down. Looks like Smith said "he grabbed me" to the ref. pic.twitter.com/13uq4gd24T
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) October 8, 2023
“I gotta go back and take a look at that one because a lot of times I think when you don’t get your head around as a defender, I think it becomes a pretty quick trigger there. But I’d like to see that in real time. I know what it felt like in real time, but I gotta take a look at it,” O’Connell said.
If the flag wasn’t thrown, the Chiefs never would’ve scored and the Vikings would’ve had the ball near midfield while trailing 20-13.
Then in the fourth quarter the Vikings were down 27-20 and sitting 4th-and-12 when Cousins threw to Jordan Addison in the end zone. A flag for pass interference on the Chiefs was thrown only to be picked up after the refs decided it was an uncatchable pass. But Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Snead appeared to prevent Addison from rerouting to the football. And to make matters more controversial, Snead took his helmet off after the flag was thrown.
But Harrison Smith gets pulled down by the receiver and gets called for DPI pic.twitter.com/RCGmI4HyzF
— Thomas Sullivan (@Yfz84) October 8, 2023
“When the flag came out in the first place I was not surprised in that moment,” O’Connell explained. “I tried to figure out where and when that veered the other way. I want to be careful on this one, but that was very unfortunate as well as the scenario where not every player on the field had their helmet on either.”
O’Connell confirmed that he was talking about Snead taking his helmet off.
There’s also an intriguing video circulating on social media that appears to show one of the referees telling Snead to put his helmet back on rather than flag him for unsportsmanlike conduct, which is the rule for when players take their helmet off on the field.
“Put your helmet on”
#NFL
Unbelievable pic.twitter.com/Cs65Zn1nho
— Bull Run (@run_bull_) October 8, 2023
