MN Vikings Superstar Calls on Year 3 Jets to Return

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Justin Jefferson - Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

When you start your season as slowly as the 2025 Minnesota Vikings have, every game feels of the utmost importance. But there’s no doubt this weekend’s contest against the Chicago Bears is even bigger than those that came before it.

Sunday is essentially win or get ready to stay home in January, for KOC & Co. And that is where superstar receiver Justin Jefferson comes into play.

The 2020 first round pick has done nothing but exceed expectations since that day in April when he somehow fell all the way to a giddy Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman (back when they got along).

Justin Jefferson - Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

But last Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, Jefferson was a shell of the highlight reel magnet we’ve seen in just about every game the Minnesota Vikings have played since Jettas first put on the Vikings horns and purple No. 18.

It was so bad that head coach Kevin O’Connell had to answer questions about his buy-in this week. We will get to those lowlights against Baltimore momentarily.

Justin Jefferson riding the struggle bus of late?

But Justin’s performance last week has already been thoroughly parsed through by every corner of the internet. And it’s important to know that Jettas’ problems run deeper than week 10.

For starters, with JJ McCarthy under center, Jefferson has yet to eclipse more than 81 yards or six receptions in a game, even though the 22-year-old has targeted the superstar 35 total times through those four games.

Justin — who has reeled in 51 receptions for 686 yards and 2 touchdowns — is easily on pace to eclipse 1,000 yards yet again this season. But no matter who his QB has been, the production has been inconsistent and underwhelming. Getting in the endzone is still a problem, as it has been his entire career.

Justin’s gone over 100 receiving yards just twice in nine games this season, and has yet to hit the century mark on U.S. soil. Both of Jefferson’s 100-yard games came in Europe. He caught 10 of 11 targets from Carson Wentz in Dublin against the Steelers for 126 yards (0 TD).

One week later (October 5) in London, he hit the century-mark against the Cleveland Browns, catching 7 of 11 targets for 123 yards (0 TD). So while Justin Jefferson has still been good this season, the Minnesota Vikings are paying him to be great, especially as they train in their kid QB.

Minnesota Vikings superstar calls for 2022 self to return

Well as it turns out, Justin Jefferson could not agree more. On his Instagram Thursday, Jettas posted a photo on of his game-saving catch against the Buffalo Bills, which is celebrating its third birthday today.

It’s widely regarded as one of the greatest catches in NFL history. But it was what Jefferson typed within his screenshot of the catch that’s worth mentioning. There, the 26-year-old receiver typed: “I need to get back to year3 Jets”.

Related: Lengthy MN Vikings Injury Report Provides Some Good News

Once again, this shows the incredibly high maturity levels of Justin Jefferson. Other wide receivers around the league (AJ Brown) are making news as unhappy playmakers on winning teams.

Not Jefferson, who has all the reason in the world to point fingers and place blame on those around him. Instead, he is pointing it at himself. And without a doubt, he deserves plenty.

Justin Jefferson hit lowpoint vs Ravens and he knows it

Against the Baltimore Ravens, Justin Jefferson got 12 target, but hauled in just four receptions for 39 yards. Most of those misses were on arm of JJ McCarthy, but there were throws where the redshirt rookie quarterback put his superstar receiver in a position to make a superstar play… and Jefferson failed to answer the call.

Both of McCarthy’s interceptions against the Ravens were targeting Jefferson. One of them was a 1v1 deep ball that Justin tripped on, which resulted in an easy Ravens pick.

Then, there’s the rocket touchdown pass that went through Justin Jefferson’s hands late. This was a tough play, no doubt, but one we expect No. 18 to make, given some of the catches we’ve seen from him over the course of his NFL career, and all the way back to his time at LSU.

Related: JJ McCarthy Shows Up to Vikings Practice with New Ailment

With JJ McCarthy learning how to play quarterback on the NFL job, Jefferson understands his responsibility to fill that gap, while his QB learns the ropes. So far, he has not done that. On Sunday against the Bears, however, I would start JJ McCarthy on your fantasy teams.

MN Vikings need this win vs Bears

There’s no sugarcoating the importance of week 11 for the Minnesota Vikings. If they can get the job done at home Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Bears, not only would they sweep the division rival Chicago Bears, but they’d stave off the virtual deathnel on their 2025 season.

The MN Vikings might see themselves as a playoff-caliber team, but you aren’t getting into the NFC Playoffs as a Wildcard with eight losses. Hell, even going 10-7 won’t guarantee a postseason berth this year.

As of today, the Bears (6-3), Packers (5-3) and Rams (7-2) occupy the three Wildcard slots in the National Football Conference. Behind them are the 49ers (6-4) and Panthers (5-5).

In other words, a loss vs the Bears would result in Minnesota’s playoff hopes being reliant on an eight-game win streak to close the regular season 11-6. At the very least, the Vikings would have to go 7-1, and then need some additional help from the teams listed above, to make it in as a 10-7 team.

On the other side of the coin, a win would put the Minnesota Vikings back at .500 and make them 3-0 on the season against fellow NFC North opponents.

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