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Hamstring injuries seem to be among the most difficult for athletes to deal with, and the Minnesota Vikings are learning that first-hand with one of their offensive stars.
Wide receiver Adam Thielen was active for the Vikings on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, attempting to play after missing most of the Vikings’ Week 7 win over the Detroit Lions and all of the Week 8 victory over the Washington Redskins. Unfortunately for Thielen, his return lasted just seven snaps, as he took himself out midway through the first quarter and did not return.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Thielen just didn’t feel like himself. Rapoport did, however, say that it wasn’t a re-aggravation of the injury.
“He went out there and just did not feel like himself,” Rapoport said. “Didn’t feel like he could really stretch it out and open it up and go. It’s not really a re-aggravation, more of just a realizing that he wasn’t ready to play and taking himself out before he did further damage.”
When he was asked about it during his press conference on Monday, head coach Mike Zimmer did not have an update about when Thielen would be back, simply saying that when the doctors say Thielen is ready, he’ll be ready.
The Vikings have two more games on the slate before they hit their bye in Week 12. They have a Sunday Night Football date with the Dallas Cowboys coming up next, followed by a return to U.S. Bank Stadium to take on the Denver Broncos.
It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Thielen to be “down” for the next two games, as that would give him three weeks to heal up for the Vikings’ stretch run, which features a tough prime time game in Seattle and home games against all three NFC North opponents.
Here’s hoping that Thielen can get himself right at some point over the next few weeks here. While the Vikings have shown that they can move the ball and score points without him, the offense is obviously better with him in the fold, and he would definitely give the team a boost down the stretch.