What happened to Christian Darrisaw? Vikings LT suffers injury after taking brutal hit vs Rams in Week 8

The Minnesota Vikings suffered a major blow in the second quarter of Thursday's game against the LA Rams as they lost left tackle Christian Darrisaw to a nasty injury.

With the Vikings backed up near their goal line, they called a run play to take some time off the clock and give their quarterback enough space to go into victory formation. However, safety Jaylen McCollough broke into the backfield and bumped into Darrisaw's standing leg as he brought down Aaron Jones.

The left tackle was immediately in pain and the clock was stopped to attend to him. He was helped into the locker room and did not emerge on the sidelines with the rest of the team for the second half. It was later revealed that Darrisaw had been ruled out with a knee injury.

The offensive line was one of the reasons the Minnesota Vikings started the season 5-0 and Darrisaw was an integral member. He played an important role in the Vikings' first two drives before getting injured, helping them score twice.

Sam Darnold's production was phenomenal in the first half as he got a clean pocket and completed 10 of his 13 passes for 112 yards. He got two touchdowns out of it.

Christian Darrisaw's injury gives chance to David Quessenberry

Christian Darrisaw's injury meant that David Quessenberry got the chance to come in and show what he could do.

Quessenberry is an NFL veteran who is now on his fourth team. Drafted in 2013 by the Houston Texans, he played with them until 2017. He then moved to another AFC South team, the Tennessee Titans, and featured for them until 2021. He had a single season with the Buffalo Bills in 2022 before moving to Minnesota in 2023. He re-signed with the team before the 2024 season.

If Darrisaw is out for a significant amount of time, Quessenberry will need to step up. The Vikings are arguably in the toughest division in the NFL this season, with all teams in the NFC North having a winning record. Therefore, he does not have the time to get used to his starting job.

In the fourth quarter, for example, he was shoved away by Jared Verse who went on to sack Darnold. Darrisaw's importance was immediately clear at that moment. Now, it is up to Quessenberry to ensure that the starting left tackle is not missed for too long.