The Vikings' Christian Darrisaw has suffered a torn ACL and ACL that will be out for the remainder of the season

The Minnesota Vikings have lost left tackle Christian Darrisaw, one of their best players and one of the best at his position in the NFL, this season to ACL and ACL injuries in his left knee, coach Kevin O'Connell confirmed Friday.

Darrisaw suffered the injury late in the first half of the Vikings' 30-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night. The Vikings placed him on injured reserve on Friday afternoon and in the process activated tight end TJ Hockenson from the physically unable to perform list (PUP) to their 53-man roster.

“He's clearly one of our offensive pillars that we've leaned heavily on,” O'Connell said of Darrisaw, “and it will be a significant loss. But we all have to do a little more.”

Veteran David Quessenberry replaced Darrisaw in Thursday's game, but O'Connell said Vikings coaches discussed several options for filling the position going forward. Left guard Blake Brandel has played left tackle in the past, and guard Dalton Risner can be activated from injured reserve. The Vikings also drafted tackle Walter Rouse in the sixth round this spring.

“I thought (Quessenberry) settled in and did some things to help us,” O'Connell said, “but yeah, when you talk about the mentality of getting the best five guys in there, not just those five options , but.” What does the rest of the depth look like? I feel like here your O-line depth, which we've liked throughout training camp and then before the season, gives you options and we'll continue to have that dialogue within us as we'll figure out what the best plan of attack is is for the future and I think there are several options on the table and we have to figure that out.”

The 25-year-old Darrisaw has been the Vikings' starting left tackle since they made him with the No. 23 pick in the 2021 draft. He has battled a number of injuries but put in good performances that earned him a four-year contract extension worth up to $113 million.

The injury occurred when Darrisaw blocked with 35 seconds left in the first half. Rams safety Jaylen McCollough fell on the side of his left knee and team medics helped him go straight to the locker room as the Vikings ended the half.

The Vikings had possession at their own 3-yard line, but had all three timeouts. Instead of letting his team kneel the ball to end the half, O'Connell said he wanted to see if the offense could potentially get into position to score. The Rams also had a timeout that would have resulted in the Vikings having to kneel twice in the tight space between the line of scrimmage and the end zone.

“They had good defense on the field,” O'Connell said, “so I thought maybe we could make a run. I don't know if we were necessarily in the sights of that group out there, and I think if we were, then maybe. “The ball has a chance to move. If we go with the timeouts that we had left at this point and get it on first, there's a chance that we might try to move a few things up and not give them a chance to double up. We're with them at the start of the second half.