MINNEAPOLIS — Justin Jefferson looked like the Cleveland Cavs version of LeBron James against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
With his team trailing 17-7 with 1:48 remaining in the first half, he took over the game. On second-and-3 from the 32-yard line, Jefferson made a flying catch across the middle for 22 yards. The next two plays were an incomplete pass and a sack that lost nine yards. So on third-and-19, Jefferson got open and grabbed a 29-yard pass to put the Vikings in scoring position. One play later, quarterback Nick Mullens rolled out and heaved the ball in his general direction. Jefferson out-muscled the cornerback and made a diving catch in the back of the end zone. Three plays, 77 yards, all JJ.
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MN VIKINGS
Loss to Lions was the definitive ‘what coulda been’ game for 2023 Vikings
Justin Jefferson went off but four INTs cost the Vikings vs. Detroit and sunk their playoff odds
MATTHEW COLLER OF PURPLE INSIDER1 HOUR AGO
MINNEAPOLIS — Justin Jefferson looked like the Cleveland Cavs version of LeBron James against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
With his team trailing 17-7 with 1:48 remaining in the first half, he took over the game. On second-and-3 from the 32-yard line, Jefferson made a flying catch across the middle for 22 yards. The next two plays were an incomplete pass and a sack that lost nine yards. So on third-and-19, Jefferson got open and grabbed a 29-yard pass to put the Vikings in scoring position. One play later, quarterback Nick Mullens rolled out and heaved the ball in his general direction. Jefferson out-muscled the cornerback and made a diving catch in the back of the end zone. Three plays, 77 yards, all JJ.
Somehow that wasn’t even his best work.
With the Vikings trailing 30-24, Jefferson single-handedly kept the game alive. First, on second-and-10 at the Viking 33-yard line when Mullens was strip-sacked and Jefferson bolted from the downfield where he was running his route all the way to the backfield to jump on the football. On the next play, third-and-27, Mullens floated a pass into the heavens and Jefferson went LeBron Mode and leaped over two Lions defenders to bring it down. Shades of his famed Buffalo catch last year.
Before that play, I told Nick (Mullens), ‘no matter what it is, just throw it over,’” Jefferson said. “I just have that same attitude on every single ball that’s in the air. I just want to make a play for my team, make the drive, continue to go. I know I’m a momentum-shifter on this team in the big plays that I make and the crazy catches that I make.”
After a 26-yard catch from Brandon Powell, the Vikings stood 30 yards away from a wild comeback with 58 seconds remaining. Mullens rolled out, saw Jefferson open and chucked the ball toward him again. But this time the ball hit turbulence and got picked off as Jefferson was trying to readjust. The loss, per New York Times playoff simulator, dropped the Vikings’ playoff odds to just 26% heading into the final two weeks.
Following the game, Mullens explained what happened on the final play.
“Iould either have put it like further out or right on him, and tried to put it right on him and the ball didn’t come out exactly how I wanted it to,” he said. “That’s unfortunate the way it ended like that. Had a chance to win it at the end and we didn’t get it done.”
