Vikings Receive a Timely Boost Before Sunday
The Minnesota Vikings have a chance to reach a .500 record on Sunday, but only if they march into Detroit’s home field and steal the victory from the Lions, a team they haven’t beaten in five consecutive attempts.
Vikings Receive a Timely Boost Before Sunday
Through the first eight weeks of the season, the Lions have clearly been the better football team, and it’s showing in the standings. Furthermore, the Vikings are coming off a terrible loss in which they got slaughtered by the Los Angeles Chargers.
But hope comes in the person of J.J. McCarthy, who has been confirmed as the starter for a few days now. It’ll be his first game in the starting lineup since Week 2. And for the first time in his career, he’ll have both starting offensive tackles by his side. Brian O’Neill protected him in his two outings, but Christian Darrisaw was still out with his knee injury.
Both are expected to play on Sunday despite entering Sunday with a questionable tag.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported, “Both Vikings starting OTs listed as questionable for Sunday’s game, Brian O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw, both are expected to play vs. the Lions, per sources.”
That’s great news for the Vikings, who have deployed Justin Skule on 270 offensive snaps this season, more than any other offensive tackle on the roster. Walter Rouse has played 88 snaps.
To complete the list, Darrisaw has 233 plays on his 2025 resume, and O’Neill has 231. Playing time has been pretty inconsistent for the duo.
Darrisaw, as mentioned earlier, missed the first two games. He was still recovering from the torn ACL and MCL suffered halfway through last season. The standout tackle has confirmed he returned earlier than expected, and perhaps that was a bad idea.
After playing in Weeks 3 and 4, Darrisaw was limited to 40 snaps in Week 5 and was subbed out early in Week 8. His injury has been lingering. He’s regularly skipping Thursday practices, but his status has been one to watch in pretty much every week.
O’Neill, meanwhile, started the season healthy, but that changed in Week 4, when he suffered an MCL sprain that cost him Week 5. He returned in Week 7, playing all 69 defensive snaps. However, that workload forced him to miss Week 8 with short rest between the two contests.
Carson Wentz shared the field in Week 9 with Darrisaw on only nine snaps, while O’Neill wasn’t present at all. Well, no wonder the Chargers pressured him on what felt like every down.
McCarthy will have the benefit of being protected by the tackle duo. O’Neill is a two-time Pro Bowler, while Darrisaw probably should’ve been there once or twice.
The two starters will be flanked by Will Fries and Donovan Jackson at the guard spots, as intended. Only starting center Ryan Kelly will miss the game, as he’s still on IR with his second concussion of the season. The Vikings will once more rely on Blake Brandel at center, with initial backup center Michael Jurgens waiting for his shot.
Vikings at Lions will kick off at noon and numbers 75 and 71 will be active.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.