It doesn’t take much to bend the nozzle. A hit strong enough to knock the cover off might also bend the nozzle. A bent nozzle will lead to all kinds of issues. Prints won’t stick. Calibration lines won’t stick. The purge line at the back can end up off the bed.
Look at the nozzle straight on from the front and again from the side. Most of the time, the bend is large enough that you can see it without removing the hot end but you may have to remove the hot end to see it. You can leave the 3 connectors plugged in if you are very careful. Don’t tug on the wires. The pcb mounted half of the plug is surface mount, you can rip it off the board if you pull hard enough.