Vikings lose two O-linemen to injuries on nightmare day in Green Bay

On a day where basically nothing went right for the Minnesota Vikings, two of their starting offensive linemen and former first-round picks exited the game due to injury. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw (foot/ankle) and left guard Donovan Jackson (ankle) both tried to play through their ailments before ultimately being ruled out of the game in the second half of Sunday's 23-6 loss at Lambeau Field.

Afterwards, head coach Kevin O'Connell said "it's probably too early" to know the severity of the issues for either player, and whether or not they could be in danger of missing next week's game against the Seahawks in Seattle. Both will be evaluated further, with more meaningful updates perhaps to come on Monday.

Jackson has had a strong rookie season for the Vikings, who selected him with the 24th overall pick out of Ohio State in this year's draft. He missed a couple games earlier this season after undergoing surgery to clean up a wrist injury. Particularly in recent weeks, Jackson has looked like someone with a chance to be a very good NFL guard for a long time.

"I know Donovan, he was doing everything in his power to try to get back out there, tape it up," O'Connell said of Jackson's ankle injury. "We just wanted to make sure he could not only do his job, but for the sake of him, not sustain something (that could keep him out) a lot longer than maybe where it's at right now."

Darrisaw, the Vikings' first-round pick back in 2021, saw his 2024 season end early when he suffered a major knee injury 13 months ago. He missed the first two games of this season and had to manage the injury after coming back. That's included not practicing on Thursdays all year and hardly playing in a Week 8 Thursday night game against the Chargers.

This foot/ankle injury appears to be unrelated to Darrisaw's knee. It happened earlier in the game, according to O'Connell. Darrisaw attempted to play through it, but was eventually ruled out in the fourth quarter.