Vikings’ Justin Jefferson – This is one of the ‘toughest seasons’

EAGAN, Minn. – With his team mired in a 4-8 record, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson will face another year without making the playoffs.

That realization was on display during Sunday’s 26-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, as Jefferson spent part of the fourth quarter sitting dejectedly on a water cooler and then skipped his postgame news conference for the first time in his career.

Speaking to local reporters Thursday, Jefferson said “the frustration and emotions were definitely running high after the game,” but he stopped well short of indicating he was concerned about the team’s long-term direction. Amid six starts from second-year quarterback JJ McCarthy and one from rookie Max Brosmer, Jefferson is expected to finish its sixth season without a playoff victory. But he hesitated Thursday when asked if he worried the Vikings would spoil the prime of his career.

“No, I wouldn’t say wasted,” Jefferson said. “It’s obviously a tough season. It’s probably one of the toughest seasons, given the circumstances, having a young quarterback, having a different team, having young players on the team. So it’s just one of those years. Not every year is going to be a high-level year for me. That’s definitely part of the game, so it’s on me to expect a lot from these guys and improve on everything we need to improve on as an offense.”

Jefferson entered the season averaging 96.5 receiving yards per game in his career, the most in NFL history among qualifying players. But in his seven games with McCarthy and Brosmer, he averaged 46 yards. Overall this season, he ranks 12th in the NFL in receptions (60) and receiving yards (799), while only catching two touchdowns. He will need 601 receiving yards over the final five games to avoid setting a career low for a full season.

“You have to have a lot of patience,” Jefferson said. “I mean, we’re 4-8. It’s definitely a tough thing to go through. It’s definitely not exciting to lose games, and especially in front of our home fans. Those are definitely things that I hate doing. I was always a kid that was a competitor at the highest level. I hated losing, I hated losing board games. Those were all things I hated losing. So of course, I hate being in that situation and losing those games, but there will be better times and there will be a time when people turn off the TV and talk about us and they have jumped on the bandwagon.

Earlier this week, coach Kevin O’Connell said the team was well aware it wasn’t meeting Jefferson’s standards.

“He obviously wants to win football games,” O’Connell said. “He’s as competitive as anyone I’ve been around, and he’s a leader on our team. Nobody accepts any of the results that we’re facing right now, for whatever reason, whatever the state of our situation right now, nobody accepts that. And Justin will certainly never be asked to accept that. But he always shows up with energy, and he’s going to impact our organization at a very high level. And we have to find ways to allow players to just be like Justin and Jordan [Addison] and some of our other players to have a chance to impact the game. And then when they get the opportunity, we know good things will happen.

“But it takes a lot more than just calling plays for them or having stretches in games where they can have a high level of impact, because this game requires 10 other guys performing to a standard to allow that to happen. And that’s what we have to strive for. And Justin plays a huge role in that as one of our captains.”