Aaron Jones had a perfect response to the hit that sent his helmet flying

Aaron Jones had quite the Sunday. Thrust into a workhorse role with Jordan Mason on IR, the Vikings’ 31-year-old running back received 23 carries — the most he’s handled in four years. He turned those into 105 big yards in the Vikings’ rain-soaked 9-3 win at Soldier Field.

>Jones also left the game with his face looking slightly different than it did yesterday. On his 18th carry, with around six minutes left in the fourth quarter, he took a violent hit from Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. The contact from Stevenson’s helmet sent Jones’ helmet flying off, giving the running back a bit of a gash on his cheek in the process.

Wow. What a hit by Stevenson! pic.twitter.com/PKBKxtuYkl

— Billy M (@BillyM_91) September 20, 2026Asked about the play in the locker room postgame, Jones delivered a great response.

>“You see this scar on my face?” Jones said. “Surprised there was no helmet-to-helmet (call). Just gotta pop up, get your helmet back, and get ready to play the next play. My pop-up game was strong. It didn’t affect me. He was talking trash. I wanted to say ‘scoreboard’ but I just let him have it. He made a good play, and move on to the next one.”

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>As Jones mentioned, there was no flag thrown on the play, despite his helmet flying off his head and soaring several feet through the air. It’s subjective, but it sure looks like Stevenson lowered his head and used the crown of his helmet to contact Jones’ helmet. The play seems to meet a lot of the criteria of the “targeting” rule that exists in college football and comes with an ejection. In the NFL, it could’ve arguably been deemed a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.

>But Jones was fine. He stayed in the game and ran the ball five more times, including a key 15-yard gain that forced the Bears to use their third timeout and helped set up the Vikings’ third field goal of the day.

>Jones had already battled through a bit of knee injury earlier in the fourth quarter. The FOX broadcast showed him slamming his helmet on the sideline after one play (prior to the helmet-to-helmet hit), but he was able to stay in.

>“Got a little banged up,” Jones said of his knee. “Put a brace on it and was able to finish it out.”

>It was a big-time effort from Jones on a day where the weather conditions made passing the ball difficult. The Vikings needed all of his 105 yards. He consistently picked up 4-8 yards on the ground, mixing in a 20-yarder and a 15-yarder as well.

>“So tough,” Kevin O’Connell said. “He found some nice creases in there and took the ball where you want it to go, and then he’ll find space from there. Aaron’s not going to be a guy that’s going to go 70 (yards) but he’s going to find yards and he’s going to be a guy that the linemen love blocking for because they know he’s got great vision, they know he’s got some toughness to finish runs even at his size.”

>“That was f—ing awesome,” right tackle Brian O’Neill said, via Matthew Coller of Purple Insider. “He’s the man. He’s the absolute man. He’s one of my favorite teammates ever. And he played great. He battled. I mean, that was one of the louder hits I’ve ever heard and it didn’t phase him one bit and he just kept running it. He knew he was ready for 35 (carries) if we needed him.”

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>This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Sep 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Vikings section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.