Justin Jefferson was back on the field for the Vikings after a seven-game absence, but his return was cut short after taking a hard hit in the second quarter against the Raiders. 

The Vikings’ star receiver was ruled out for the rest of the game due to a chest injury and was transported to a local hospital out of an abundance of caution, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported. 

Jefferson was hurt with 9:54 left in the first half as he was going up to make a catch. The All-Pro wide receiver went up for the ball and was hit hard by Raiders safety Marcus Epps in his torso on the play. 

Jefferson came up with the 15-yard reception, but grabbed his back and went to the sideline. 

It was a tough break for Jefferson, who had just returned from a right hamstring injury that has kept him out of games since Week 4.

He made two catches in his first game back, both of which were receptions for positive yards. 

He even made a bit of history on the first catch he had, breaking a team record held by Vikings great Randy Moss. Jefferson moved his career total receiving yards to ​​5,408 on the first catch and gave him the most receiving yards in a player’s first four seasons in team history. 

Jefferson played 13 snaps on Sunday and was targeted three times before being injured. 

He had told reporters last week that he had been hoping to get to 1,000 yards this season after being stuck at 571 because of the injury. 

“It’s been hard to adjust those goals honestly,” Jefferson said, according to ESPN. “To have missed seven games throughout the season, especially on the pace that I was going before the injury. It’s a little tough to see Tyreek [Hill] going crazy every single week, to see different people throughout the whole league doing tremendous things. It’s been tough because it’s the first season that I’ve been hurt since I’ve been into the league.”

Prior to his hamstring issue, Jefferson had been averaging 135.8 yards per game during the first four weeks of the season.