Vikings’ Justin Jefferson looks to bounce back from Lions game with big playoff moment vs. Rams

Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson and quarterback Sam Darnold couldn’t connect in Sunday’s loss to the Lions.

Jefferson caught only three passes while being targeted nine times and finished with his fewest yards (54) since the Bears smothered him in Week 12. Darnold completed only 18 of 41 passes.

Jefferson said the brunt of the dialogue between him and Darnold this week in addressing that disconnect was acknowledging this: Those days happen.

“Everyone is not perfect, and there’s gonna be some times where we have that adversity and we hit those times where things aren’t clicking all the way,” Jefferson said Friday. “It’s just all about bouncing back. The great thing about last week, it wasn’t a playoff game. We wasn’t in that type of situation where we had to win.”

Monday night’s wild-card game against the Rams will be just the second professional playoff appearance for Jefferson, now a four-time All-Pro in his fifth season in the league. He played in just as many in college at LSU and won both, including winning the national championship in 2020.

Of the many accomplishments Jefferson can list on his professional résumé, an NFL playoff victory is not one of them.

The Vikings are going to need some star-player moments out of Jefferson on Monday to help him make that addition and give the organization its first playoff victory under coach Kevin O’Connell.

Jefferson lacked big-play moments Sunday in a game of similar stakes and atmosphere.

In Jefferson’s only other professional playoff appearance, against the Giants in the 2022-23 wild-card round, he didn’t have one either. None of his seven receptions went for more than 10 yards, and he never saw the end zone. The Vikings lost 31-24.

During LSU’s championship run, though, Jefferson boasted several, most notably in the Tigers’ 63-28 semifinal victory over Oklahoma, when he caught 12 passes for a career-high 227 yards and scored four touchdowns.

Jefferson reached for the game’s first score, outstretched and fully in the air as a Sooners defender wrapped up his legs and lifted him. He hauled in a 35-yard pass over his right shoulder while on the move for another touchdown. He went through contact on a 42-yard touchdown.

He didn’t even have to score to help his team. In the national championship game, when LSU beat Clemson 42-25, Jefferson had a pair of explosive plays that helped set up the Tigers’ first lead. He converted a third down the next drive as LSU extended that lead before halftime.

“It’s definitely important to have those moments. It’s win or go home,” Jefferson said. “You have those moments or you miss those moments and wish you had those moments after the season. … Even last game it felt that type of vibe. That playoff atmosphere.”

Throughout the Vikings’ regular season, teams varied the ways they covered Jefferson, trying to strike a balance between limiting him and not letting others, such as wide receiver Jordan Addison or tight end T.J. Hockenson, get away.

Hockenson, who was still out because of injury when the Vikings and Rams met in October, recalled the Rams playing Cover 2 to contain Jefferson over the top.

He still caught eight passes for 115 yards in the Week 8 matchup, but it was the first of six straight games without a touchdown for Jefferson. After a 137-yard performance against the Colts the following week, he didn’t pass the century mark again until Week 14. Against the Bears, he was held to two catches for 27 yards.

By all accounts from coaches and teammates, Jefferson has handled the extra defensive attention, and the dip in production it has sometimes caused, well. Jefferson himself has been quick to praise teammates who ended up with huge games after defenses locked him down.

Even dealing with the physical brand of defense the Lions played last weekend, in which defensive backs expertly disguised handsy coverage and didn’t draw the flags he’d have liked, Jefferson kept his composure, Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said Tuesday.

“I don’t think he lets it get to him too much,” Phillips said. “I think Justin’s an ultimate competitor. There’s gonna be frustration from a guy like that, his caliber of player, if he’s not getting the football and affecting the game in a way that he knows he can. I think that’s totally natural and expected from our end.”

It’s hard to imagine that leaving Monday night without a big playoff moment, the pinnacle of which can earn nicknames and become legendary in a team’s history, would be as easy for Jefferson to shake off.

As Jefferson said Friday, miss those moments in a playoff game, and they’ll haunt you in the offseason.

“You definitely don’t want to have those conversations,” he said.