The San Francisco 49ers are keeping it close to the vest on how injured their star linebacker Patrick Willis might be. Willis suffered a hamstring strain on Sunday and had to leave the game. There was no indication on how bad the injury he is, although he has been sitting out practice this week.
Kevin Lynch of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that it could be a little bit longer than Niners fans would like.
If forced to guess, Chang said that a wide window would be three to six weeks in recovery time for Willis. However, he cautioned that hamstring injuries can be "frustrating" because of the propensity for re-injury.
"The scar tissue is not as flexible and re-injury can occur," he said.
Three weeks would mean Willis could return in time for the season finale on Christmas Eve in Seattle. A five-week recovery would mean Willis would be ready for the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Willis isn't really needed the rest of the regular season. The 49ers only have one tough contest left against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, and they have three games against their NFC West foes. San Francisco has wrapped up their division, and they won't really need to worry too much about anything but playoff positioning. But the Niners need their gifted middle linebacker to win games in January.
To discuss Willis's injury status, head to Niners Nation.