6 Vikings questionable for North showdown against Lions
Right tackle Brian O'Neill (ankle) and running back Alexander Mattison (ankle) returned to practice on Friday, giving hope that both could return to the field Sunday against the Lions after missing the last two games.
Despite that hope, they are among six players who are officially questionable for Sunday's 12 p.m. CT kickoff against Detroit, which is a must-win game for Minnesota if they hope to at least delay Detroit's division championship.
Also questionable are...
- Jordan Hicks, LB (shin)
- Ivan Pace Jr., LB (shoulder)
- Harrison Phillips, DT (back)
- Jonathan Bullard, DE (ankle)
Hicks has said all week that he hopes to make his return after missing significant time after undergoing surgery to repair a compartment syndrome injury in his shin. Pace Jr., however, showed up on the injury report for the first time this week, perhaps hurting his shoulder in practice on Thursday or Friday.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell said he "feels good" about Pace's status and that the rookie linebacker is just dealing with some shoulder soreness.
"Jordan's been flying around all week," O'Connell noted about Hicks, adding that the team will soon decide whether or not to activate him from injured reserve.
The only players ruled out for Sunday's NFC North showdown are wide receiver Jalen Nailor (concussion) and cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. (hamstring).
The Vikings must win Sunday to keep their chances in the NFC North alive. In fact, they have to win out and Detroit needs to lose out for the Vikings to win the division. That's a very real possibility because the Vikings play the Lions twice and Detroit's other game is at Dallas.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.