The Minnesota Vikings defense took a hit early in the second quarter, as edge rusher Marcus Davenport left the game with an apparent ankle injury.
Davenport was injured on the Bears’ field goal drive, as he appeared to get rolled up on by his own teammate while coming in to help stop quarterback Justin Fields on a scramble. As he was coming off the field, Davenport was in visible discomfort and, at times, unable to put weight on his leg.
The Vikings’ defense has been bringing a considerable amount of pressure early against the Bears, and they’ve had significant success with it. They’ve been able to speed up the process Fields goes through, and have been able to sack him once and hit Fields several times.
Losing Davenport is likely to have a major impact on the Vikings ability to continue bringing pressure. No one in the league blitzes more than this defense, and Davenport has been an integral part of that pressure the past few weeks.
The official word on Davenport is that he is questionable to return with an ankle injury. As of this writing, it’s unclear if the ankle injury is on the same ankle he injured in practice before week one.
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