Daily Norseman
The Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears have issued their first injury reports in advance of Sunday’s game at US Bank Stadium. Here they are:
In his media session today, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said that Jonathan Greenard was the only one on the injury list that was questionable to play on Sunday against the Bears.
The Vikings have opened the 21-day window for starting center Ryan Kelly to return, although based on Kevin O’Connell’s comments he is probably more likely after the Bears game than for the Bears game. O’Connell said they would begin working Kelly back into practices this week after practicing on a side field last week. He also said that the veteran center is wearing a new helmet (presumably one better designed to prevent concussions for a center) along with the guardian cap, which is the padded exterior overlay that some players choose to wear during games, to further help prevent concussions. Kelly has suffered multiple concussions this season and multiple over his career prior to this year as well.
The Bears have a lengthy injury list to start the week, with eight players not practicing on Wednesday (although two were veteran days off). Five starters did not practice due to injury, and two more were limited. Having said that, I suspect most on the list will be available on Sunday. T.J. Edwards is more questionable as he’s dealing with a hamstring that could keep him out. It is believed he can still play with the hand injury with a cast.
Still, there are a number of starters to monitor the rest of the week, particularly Brisker and Stevenson, Odunze and Moore as the Bears are already thin at defensive back and their two starting receivers are key to their offense.
Stay tuned as we’ll have updates tomorrow and Friday.
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