EAGAN, Minn. -- Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray's hamstring was sore enough Monday that the team is uncertain whether he will be available for the Week 9 game against the Buffalo Bills.
A day after Murray struggled in a 19-15 loss to the Detroit Lions, coach Kevin O'Connell said that the quarterback was going through a "full eval" Monday and that additional updates were expected from the Vikings' medical staff during the early part of the week. Asked if he thought the injury was serious enough to prevent Murray from playing against the Bills, O'Connell said: "I don't think we're there yet. It's still early enough that I'll continue to get updates."
If Murray can't play, backup Carson Wentz will make his second start of the season. O'Connell, however, made clear that he is not considering benching Murray for performance reasons.
Through his first six starts with the Vikings, Murray ranks No. 26 among 30 qualified quarterbacks in QBR. But when asked whether Murray would continue to be his starter when healthy, O'Connell said: "Yes."
Murray missed receiver Justin Jefferson on multiple opportunities for big plays against the Lions, and O'Connell dissected several of them during his postgame news conference in Detroit. On Monday, O'Connell spoke as if he is still moving forward with the ongoing project of getting Murray acclimated to the offense -- and vice versa -- nearly eight months after signing him as a free agent.
"It's just continuing to build that rapport of the plans, the comfort level," O'Connell said, "[and] continuing to implore some input from him on things he likes and things [where] we carve it and make it even cleaner and better for him so that we do get some of that comfort where he'll throw things with anticipation and we get the look for a play, and we all know it's coming, and we see the pitch and catch there."