The Vikings placed Percy Harvin on the injured reserve list Wednesday, ending the wide receiver's season -- a serious blow to a Minnesota team struggling in the passing game.
Harvin had missed the Vikings' past three games because of a severe ankle sprain suffered Nov. 4 at Seattle. When asked earlier Wednesday if Harvin might miss the rest of the season, coach Leslie Frazier said, "It's hard to say."
Frazier, though, was conspicuously vague about the extent of Harvin's injury, suffered in a gang tackle during a 30-20 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle. He was not with the team for Wednesday's practice at Winter Park.
"I can't go into detail about the injury," Frazier said. "I know there have been reports about the
extent of the injury. He's done pretty much what the trainers have asked him to do, but he won't be available today. I know he wants to win like we all do, and I'm sure he's doing everything he can to help our football team. We'll see."
Defensive end Jared Allen wasn't at practice, either, because of lower back spasms. He was scheduled to have an MRI exam Monday to rule out a serious injury, and Frazier said Wednesday he expects him to be available against Chicago.
"His injury is not to the extent that we can't utilize him as long as we're smart with him (in practice) this week," the coach said.
Harvin's absence has been a major problem for Minnesota, which is 1-2 in the games he has missed. He leads all Vikings wide receivers with
62 catches for 667 yards and three touchdowns; combined, the other four wideouts have 68 catches for 809 yards and three scores.
Tight end Kyle Rudolph is next with 45 catches for 412 yards and a team-high eight touchdown receptions. Harvin also leads the team with 575 yards on kick returns for an average of 35.9 yards.
According to profootballfocus.com, Christian Ponder's quarterback rating is 102.8 when throwing to Harvin; overall, it's 79.8, eighth-worst among 30 NFL quarterbacks who have taken at least 50 percent of their team's snaps.
"Obviously we want (Harvin) back on the field, but we have good players who are out there," Ponder said before the announcement that Harvin's season was done. "We'll see what happens. I don't know what (the injury is), or when he'll be back, but we're just focused on who's going to be out there at practice today. We'll see what happens."
On Tuesday, 1500ESPN.com reported that Harvin's injury was a Grade 3 sprain, meaning a ligament in the ankle is torn. Frazier deflected several attempts to zero in on the extent of the injury.