Vikings Await Big Injury Verdict
Minnesota Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill, a player known for stellar durability, may miss games after a Week 4 loss in Ireland — possibly the entire rest of the season.
Injuries are probably the primary storyline for the Vikings in 2025, and Week 4 pulled no punches adding to the plot.
Minnesota lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-21 across the pond, and before making a stunning [almost] comeback late in the 4th Quarter, O’Neill fell injured and headed to the locker room.
His status as of Sunday night was unknown.
The Hits Keep on Comin’ for the Vikings
O’Neill’s status is now totally up in the air.
Brian O’Neill Leaves Week 4 with Knee Injury
KARE11’s David Griswold wrote, “The injuries on the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive line continue to pile up as starting right tackle Brian O’Neill left Sunday’s game with a knee injury and center Ryan Kelly was replaced because of a concussion.”
“O’Neill, a two-time Pro Bowler, was injured on a field goal attempt in the first quarter, which kicker Will Reichard made. Kelly missed last week because of a concussion, but after playing in the first two quarters Sunday, didn’t return for the second half. Both players were later ruled out for the remainder of the game.”
So far in 2025 — the season is not even a month old — the purple team has battled injuries too Christian Darrisaw, Andrew Van Ginkel, Harrison Smith, Ryan Kelly, Donovan Jackson, Aaron Jones, J.J. McCarthy, Blake Cashman, Rondale Moore, and C.J. Ham.
It’s like scenes from a bad comedy sports film.
A Verdict Early This Week
O’Neill was scheduled to undergo an MRI late Sunday, which will reveal a diagnosis of his knee. Early reporting has floated “MCL,” so the best-case scenario is a sprain.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said Sunday, “I was out there when they evaluated him. Don’t want to get too far ahead, from a standpoint of what it might be, but it sounded like they were talking about his MCL. So that’s one they’ll have to evaluate.”
“I know he was trying to do everything in his power to tape it up and see if he could go. One of the toughest guys on our team, so I know he would’ve absolutely tried to get back out there if he could.”
Vikings’ Recent Luck Suggests the Worst
Of course, the team’s faithful will hope for a positive verdict — again, the sprain is the most favorable outcome. But let’s be honest: you’re a Viking fan and you know when it rains, it pours.
O’Neill’s injury does not feel like a situation where he’ll dodge a bullet and be back on the field in a week, two, or three. It just doesn’t. These occasions seem to end in the worst possible news, which would be a season-ending ailment that’d put O’Neill on pace for an early 2026 return.
This season has provided utterly rotten injury luck — no exaggeration — and O’Neill’s MCL merely feels like the latest chapter.
Justin Skule as the Next Man Up
In his stead, whether it’s a couple of games or an entire season, veteran Justin Skule would slide into O’Neill’s RT job. Skule filled in for left tackle Christian Darrisaw to start the season and posted a 51.5 Pro Football Focus grade. That’s pretty terrible, and fans were quick to call it out in Weeks 1 and 2.
During a past life, though, Skule earned a 69.2 grade from PFF — with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year while playing 362 offensive snaps or about 35% of the time.
The Vikings will hope that Skule can return to that 69.2 mark, because the 51.5 from the start of the season won’t cut it and would make for a terribly long season.
Skule, however, did appear to play better against Pittsburgh via the naked eye test. Maybe he will improve in the coming weeks.
O’Connell also said after the loss to Pittsburgh,” As you lose your center and then obviously O’Neill, it has some effect on the execution, but I don’t look at it as anything more than the next man up. And we’ve got to consistently do some more simple things early on in the game, just from the standpoint of doing our job.”
More Perspective on O’Neill
Our Ted Schwerzler noted Sunday about O’Neill’s injury: “Carson Wentz did what he could to keep the team in it, but injuries on the offensive line made his effort fruitless. The scariest injury from week 4 was Brian O’Neill, who left the game after suffering a knee injury blocking for a field goal and never returned.”
“In his postgame, Kevin O’Connell reported afterward as a possible MCL injury. Initially the injury was tagged with a questionable designation to return, but it became pretty clear by halftime that the Pro Bowl right tackle was not returning. For the first couple of weeks this season, the Minnesota Vikings were without starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw.”
It’s worth noting that Minnesota’s opponent next weekend in London, the Cleveland Browns, has a rather stellar defensive front seven. The outlook doesn’t get easier.
“Justin Skule started in his place and things went poorly. Brian O’Neill is just as important to the right side of Minnesota’s O-line as Darrisaw is for the left side. With O’Neill getting an MRI before Minnesota even leaves Dublin, things aren’t looking up,” Schwerzler continued.
“The Vikings are headed to London for a game against the Cleveland Browns next weekend. Hopefully there is no ligament tear, but a sprain is also likely to cost the veteran some time.”
O’Neill is under contract through the end of 2026 and has never missed more than three games in a single season. He’s been one of the most dependable players on the Vikings’ roster in the last eight seasons, right next to Harrison Smith.
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