The Vikings just announced their inactives for Monday night's game against the Bears in Chicago.
In addition to being without starting safety Andrew Sendejo and running back Jerick McKinnon, Minnesota also must fill in for punt return specialist Marcus Sherels.
The Vikings other inactives are: Jarius Wright, Zac Kerin, Sharrif Floyd and MyCole Pruitt.
Minnesota announced that rookie Jayron Kearse is expected to make his first NFL start in place of Sendejo and that Matt Asiata will lead the way at running back.
It will be interesting to see how the Vikings step in for Sherels, who has two punt returns for touchdowns this season and broke free for a 65-yard touchdown at Soldier Field in 2015.
Sherels has been a mainstay at fielding punts since 2011. Cordarrelle Patterson made one fair catch of a punt in 2013. Patterson also received credit for nine yards in Week 1 this season after a reverse, but that play was started with Sherels fielding the punt. Other than that, it's been all-Sherels, all the time.
In the 2015 preseason, the Vikings had Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen join Sherels in returning punts. Diggs returned 10 a total of 217 yards, Sherels returned six for 60 yards and Thielen returned three for 36 yards.
The following players are inactive for the Bears: TE Daniel Brown, DB Bryce Callahan, DL Eddie Goldman, DB Deiondre' Hall, RG Kyle Long, WR Eddie Royal and LG Josh Sitton.
Eric Kush will replace LG Josh Sitton and Ted Larsen will replace RG Kyle Long in tonight's lineup.
