Vikings outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery

Coach Kevin O’Connell announced Monday that the Vikings will play their final three games of the season without outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard, who will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery.

Greenard aggravated a left shoulder injury he originally suffered against Baltimore during Sunday night’s 34-26 victory over the Cowboys, exiting in the fourth quarter after the Vikings stopped Dallas on fourth down.

He appeared to wear a sling under his shirt as he exited the locker room after the game.

“I just want to say as a captain and a leader on our team, [Greenard’s] had a huge impact‚" O’Connell said during his news conference Monday. “I thought he played one of his best games yesterday before re-aggravating that shoulder. ... JG and his leadership and his commitment to being kind of a foundational player for us as a football team has been on full display.”

Greenard played 44 snaps against the Cowboys, his most since suffering his injury. He had four tackles and three quarterback hurries in the win and logged his third sack of the season.

Greenard, whom the Vikings acquired in March 2024 during free agency, has 97 tackles, 15 sacks and 34 quarterback hurries through two seasons in Minnesota.

With Greenard down, the Vikings will turn to second-year outside linebacker Dallas Turner, who has already seen a big leap in his usage because of Greenard’s injury and one to Andrew Van Ginkel earlier in the season. Turner is tied with linebacker Eric Wilson for the team lead in sacks with 5½.

Kelly had not been among the players addressed as injured in O’Connell’s postgame news conference, though he has been working through a hip flexor issue.

Left tackle Christian Darrisaw missed his fourth full game of the season Sunday as he and the team navigate the recovery and management of his 2024 knee injury.

O’Connell said Darrisaw had swelling in his knee last week and his situation remains “week to week,” but the team hopes “to get him back in there at some point.”

Though the Cowboys finished Sunday night with almost 300 passing yards (294), the Vikings defense limited their explosiveness to a handful of plays.

The Cowboys are tied with Seattle for the NFL lead in pass plays over 40 yards with 11 and have another 47 over 20 yards.

Lamb led the Cowboys in receiving with six catches on 10 targets for 111 yards. George Pickens, who has a team-high 1,212 receiving yards this season, was held to three receptions for 33 yards on six targets.

“Obviously going into the game, we all knew who their guys are,” Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. told reporters after the game. “We knew we had to take that off the board. We love that matchup. We want to go out there and guard the best. We knew today we couldn’t give up no deep shots, and that’s what we did.”

Something that played a large role in the Vikings’ ability to stifle the NFL’s top passing offense was what O’Connell called a “chess match” between Prescott and veteran Vikings safety Harrison Smith, who has been granted flexibility in defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ scheme because of his experience and football IQ.

O’Connell praised Smith’s “game within the game” Monday when asked what has clicked for the defense, which hasn’t given up a passing touchdown in five consecutive games.

“There’s been a really, really good combination of the marriage of our pressure packages, coverages and getting the quarterback off the spot, even on plays where we’re maybe not in full send-it mode,” O’Connell said, proceeding to call out the interior defensive linemen and outside linebackers specifically.

Prescott was pressured on 51.2% of his dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats.