It may not seem like it, but Justin Jefferson hasn’t been in control his entire career. He only played 36 snaps (69%) in Week 1 of his rookie season and 29 (54%) in Week 2. It wasn’t until the next week, during the Minnesota Vikings’ third-straight loss to start 2021, that he played nearly 80% of the game. Jefferson had 175 yards in a Week 3 loss to the Tennessee Titans and began to create gravity for himself. He demanded 50/50 balls and finished with 1,400 yards.
He took control.
It’s easy to draw a parallel between this season and 2021, given that the Vikings have started 0-3 this season and have also gone 6-8 in one-score games. But Zimmer was in his eighth year as head coach, and things had gotten tense behind the scenes. Jefferson had never been in Zimmer’s office. Conversely, the team insists they’ve stuck together this season despite playing in a losing season and the Green Bay Packers blowing them out last week.
“It’s a little different,” Jefferson said after practice on Wednesday. “This year has just been a roller coaster, honestly, just with the injuries that have been occurring. Us just not being on the same page. The turnovers that happened. So, I feel like it’s definitely been a little different than that type of season.
“This season has just been crazy all around.”
Jefferson isn’t being a Pollyanna about Minnesota’s season. Turnovers cost the Vikings in their 0-3 start. Joshua Dobbs’ four interceptions in Minnesota’s Monday night loss to the Chicago Bears was the beginning of the end for him. Kevin O’Connell initially benched Nick Mullens after he threw four interceptions in the first Detroit Lions game. Alexander Mattison had fumbles that changed the momentum of the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos games.
And then there were the injuries. Jefferson pulled up limp in Minnesota’s Week 5 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and didn’t return until Week 14 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Dobbs threw Jefferson a ball high and over the middle in Vegas, and Jefferson took a hit from old friend Marcus Epps that landed him in the hospital. He returned for the Vikings’ loss in Cincinnati, their first of three losses that reduced their playoff chances to three percent this week.
Jefferson admits it’s been a trying season.
It’s been a complicated year, just with the injuries that has been occurring. The turnover battle that we face every single week, and just dealing with a whole bunch of stuff througout the season. It’s definitely one of the seasons that I can definitely say has been the most difficult that I’ve experienced, just all around, in general.
But I definitely would say that it’s definitely been a team that has been staying close together, also, through the tough times. We know that we don’t like the outcome of the games. We don’t want to go out there having three-plus turnovers. We don’t want to be that type of team. We know that we know that we have the talent on this team. It’s just not our time, and things that’s occurring that we cannot control.
Last year, Jefferson controlled Minnesota’s fate. Imagine where the Vikings would have been without his miracle catch in Buffalo. What about his 139 yards against Bill Belichick’s defense four days after the Dallas Cowboys had blown Minnesota out at home? Or his 147-yard game in London that allowed the Vikings to sneak by the New Orleans Saints? Just throw it in Jefferson’s direction became everyone’s command for Cousins. He’s out there somewhere. He’ll come down with it.
However, that was no longer the case when Jefferson injured his hamstring against Kansas City, and then Cousins suffered a season-ending injury against the Green Bay Packers in Week 8. Strangely, the Vikings went on a five-game win streak after Jefferson got injured, and Cousins suffered tore his Achilles in the middle of it.
But that’s the kind of season it’s been. Minnesota shouldn’t have won in Atlanta with Dobbs learning the playbook through the headset in his helmet. It’s still wild that he followed that up with a win over the New Orleans Saints the next week, and they nearly pulled out a primetime win in Denver the week after that. Reality set in after that. The Monday night snoozer against Chicago. A 3-0 win in Vegas. Three consecutive losses after that. Jefferson could only do so much upon returning.
Yeah, I had to learn patience, for one. I really just had to really just come together with the people that I’m close with — family, friends, teammates, coaches — and really just take that back seat for a while. It’s difficult to really go through something that you can’t really control or rush. But at the end of the day, I’m always gonna be there for my teammates. I’m always gonna be there for my team. And whatever it takes to be out there on that field, I’m gonna do whatever to make something happen.
Therein lies Jefferson’s growth. He still wants to win. He wants to be the kind of player who can pull off a miracle catch in Buffalo and torch Belichick’s defense. But he couldn’t be that this year because he was hurt, and Cousins missed half the season. Last year, he propelled the Vikings to 13 wins because he caught everything that came near him. However, he experienced growth this season because he learned to let go of things he couldn’t control.
