Justin Jefferson calls this Vikings season 'most difficult' of his career

Justin Jefferson has played 60 games as a Minnesota Viking.

He's won 30. He's lost 30, including his only NFL playoff game.

In other words, this great receiver has seen some not-so-great seasons since he left LSU as a national champion and entered the NFL as a first-round draft pick.

Where does his third losing season in four years rank?

"It's been a complicated year with the injuries, the turnover battle that we face every single week, just dealing with a whole bunch of stuff throughout the season," Jefferson said. "I can definitely say this is the most difficult [season] I've experienced just all around, in general. But I also would say this definitely is a team that's been staying close together through the tough times.

"We know we have talent. It's just not our time."

Adding to the oddity of the season, the Vikings are 2-7 with Jefferson on the field and 5-2 in the seven games he missed because of a hamstring injury.

Now the Vikings head to Detroit (11-5) to play the NFC North champion Lions needing a win and losses by the Packers, Seahawks and either the Buccaneers or Saints to make the playoffs. The Lions are still playing for the NFC's No. 2 seed.

"All we can control is winning this game," Jefferson said. "Not one game have we had both sides of the ball be on. So that's kind of what we're working towards, to have one full, good team win."

Added coach Kevin O'Connell: "To me, it's not just about 2023. It's much more than that. An NFC North opponent, late in the year, coming off a performance where we weren't proud of much of anything at U.S. Bank Stadium. We felt that, we own that, and what are we going to do about it?"

Left guard Dalton Risner said he admires the toughness that Lions coach Dan Campbell has brought to Detroit since being hired in 2021.

Campbell started 0-10-1 before facing the Vikings at Ford Field on Dec. 5, 2021. The Vikings were 5-6 and coach Mike Zimmer was on the hot season eight seasons into his time with the Vikings.

The Vikings led 27-23 with four seconds left and the Lions facing fourth-and-2 from the Vikings' 11. Jared Goff threw the walk-off touchdown winner to Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Campbell is 23-16 since that winless start. He's won Detroit's first division title — on Minnesota's home turf two weeks ago — and has a chance to become Detroit's first NFL Coach of the Year since Wayne Fontes won it in 1991, the last year the Lions won a playoff game, beating the Cowboys 38-6 on Jan. 5, 1992, at the Pontiac Silverdome.

While the Lions still have something tangible to play for on Sunday, Risner said it wouldn't matter if they didn't because of Campbell.

Risner added that the Vikings also had to be aware that the Lions would be a little mad "at how they lost that Dallas Cowboys game."

The Lions lost 20-19 last Saturday when one of the season's more controversial officiating blunders negated a successful two-point conversion pass to tackle Taylor Decker with 23 seconds left in the game.

Cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., who has missed the past two games because of a knee injury, missed practice again Wednesday. Also missing practice because of injuries were WR Jalen Nailor (concussion), DT Jaquelin Roy (ankle) and T Brian O'Neill (ankle). O'Neill missed two games before returning to the starting lineup last week against the Packers. Limited were CB Mekhi Blackmon (shoulder), G Ed Ingram (shoulder), S Theo Jackson (toe), TE Nick Muse (knee) and S Harrison Smith (shoulder).

Meanwhile, O'Connell also said outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum has had successful surgery to repair the torn quad he suffered in the 30-24 loss to the Lions two weeks ago.

Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said rookie cornerback NaJee Thompson reached 22.6 miles per hour covering the punt that resulted in him recovering a muffed ball inside the Packers' 10 last week. According to Daniels, Thompson reached a speed of 22.7 earlier this season, tops among all Vikings.