Don't tell Justin Jefferson: A receiver has never been the NFL's MVP

Clearly, the Vikings will never lose another game. No missed kick, turnover or late-game officiating blunder can prevent them from refusing to do anything but win by eight or fewer points.

So let's move on to matters more pressing than this team obviously going 19-1, defeating Patrick Mahomes by one score and winning its first Super Bowl.

Let's use this space to fire off the most loaded softball question that young Kevin O'Connell will see through Week 11 of his rookie season as an NFL head coach.

Hang on, Kev, here goes:

"Oh, geez, if ya keep dis up, who would ya pick to win NFL Most Valuable Player? Kirk Cousins or Justin Jefferson?"

O'Connell: "I definitely don't think I can answer that question because I just know how both … and I don't mean to not answer your question … that doesn't seem like much of a softball …"

O'Connell was way too smart to answer that one. The fact he spent 1 minute, 33 seconds entertaining this reporter's hypothetical lob earns him extra good-guy credit.

"To answer your question, I'll let you guys figure that out."

Thanks anyways, Kev. We'll keep you posted. Until then, this reporter, who owns one of the 50 votes that pick the NFL honors and All-Pro team will wonder whether Jefferson can pull off the unthinkable and become the first receiver to win MVP.

To do so would be to accomplish a feat that would make Sunday's one-handed catch seem just OK and not universally acclaimed as perhaps the best catch anyone's ever seen.

But, hey, who knows what might catch a voter's eye? The Vikings are the league's hottest team. They're about to play the television darlings from Dallas in the late-afternoon national game.

And …

Right, Tom Brady?

"That has gotta be one of the great catches in NFL history," the G.O.A.T. himself said on the SiriusXM podcast, "Let's Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray." "And what a great young player Justin is. I watch him every week and I always think it's impressive for the guys that have that ability and they get so much coverage focused on them and they still find a way to come up with 100-yard receiving games every single week."

Brady wasn't asked about Jefferson's MVP candidacy. Probably because no one talks about receivers and MVPs in the same breath.

The Associated Press has been picking the league-recognized MVP since 1957. A kicker — Washington's Mark Moseley — won it in 1982 when he missed three extra points.

As for a receiver, well, not even Jerry Rice himself could crack that barrier. In 1987, the strike year, he caught a then-record 22 touchdowns in 12 games. He got 30 votes, finishing second behind John Elway (36) and one spot ahead of teammate Joe Montana (18).

Jefferson ranks fourth in catches (69), second in yards (1,060) and tied for 16^th in touchdowns (four).

In 2007, Moss broke Rice's record for receiving touchdowns with 23. His quarterback, Brady, got 49 of 50 votes. Brett Favre got the other one.

A quarterback has won this award every year since Adrian Peterson's 2,000-yard rushing season in 2012. Irony of ironies, Cousins probably doesn't have the stats to compete for the award this year. Known as a great stats guy when he was plodding along as a .500 quarterback for years, he's now 8-1, playing his best football and posting a 20^th-ranked passer rating (87.0) that would be the third-worst of his career.

O'Connell, of course, is less focused on how Cousins' eight interceptions exceed last year's total and more focused on how the eight wins match last year's totals for both Cousins and Jefferson.

"Both of them continue to prove to me that they're huge parts of not only what we are now," said O'Connell, "but what we'll be moving forward."