Analysis: Justin Jefferson’s season reaches another level of frustration in Green Bay debacle

GREEN BAY, WIS. – To anyone who’s ever asked why receiver can be the NFL’s most maddening position to play, pop in a tape of the Vikings’ 23-6 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday and watch the best player inside Lambeau Field spend the closing minutes standing all alone on the sideline, hands on hips, helmet on, looking as helpless and as hopeless as any 26-year-old future Hall of Famer can possibly look.

Asked what was going through his mind at that moment, as the Vikings were spending the second half posting 4 net yards and two first downs in 15 plays covering a mere 8 minutes, 35 seconds, Jefferson said:

“We lost. Again. I hate to lose. I hate to be in this type of situation. I hate feeling the way we feel. It’s frustrating to be up here and say the same things every single week and expecting something to change the following week, and we’re still in the same spot.”

The Vikings fell to 4-7 and all but secured a fourth non-playoff season in Jefferson’s stellar six-year career. And Jefferson couldn’t do a darn thing about it because quarterback J.J. McCarthy once again was way too green and his protection way too porous to get the ball downfield the many times Jefferson was open.

“The individual stats doesn’t really mean anything,” said Jefferson, who caught four balls for 48 yards while being targeted only twice in the second half with one 7-yard catch. “If we win the game, it really doesn’t matter.”

What does matter to this team captain is him disappearing from an offense that’s starving and “we lose the game and I don’t have much [impact] towards the game.”

Jefferson’s third catch — a 19-yarder that McCarthy dropped nicely between two bracketing defenders — came with one minute left in the first half and helped the Vikings close the halftime gap to 10-6 on a 59-yard field goal by Will Reichard.

Meanwhile, the less-frustrating life of an NFL running back was being lived by Emanuel Wilson, an undrafted third-year player out of Fort Valley State. He gorged on opportunities, finishing with a career-high and Packers season-high 30 touches for 125 yards while starting for the injured Josh Jacobs.

Sure, Jefferson looked deflated at times Sunday. Who wouldn’t? But his behavior and overall body language have been beyond excellent considering how the NFL’s typical great receivers react in situations similar to what the Vikings are going through during the infancy of McCarthy’s career.

“He’s handling it well,” running back Aaron Jones Sr. said. “He’s one of our true leaders. You’ll never see him cussing anybody out on the sideline. He’s always trying to lift people up.”

Several teammates and coach Kevin O’Connell highlighted Jefferson’s character by pointing to the block he had against Chicago Bears All-Pro safety Kevin Byard III a week ago to spring Jordan Mason for a 24-yard touchdown run. It came in the fourth quarter of another mostly putrid passing performance by McCarthy and quiet game by Jefferson.

“It’s awesome to see the best route runner to play this game go into the trenches and move somebody,” tight end T.J. Hockenson said. “He’s a great teammate.”

Jefferson laughed about his “physicality” on that play at the flex he flashed afterward, saying, “I can get dirty sometimes.”

Jefferson wasn’t given much of a chance to be impactful at Lambeau Field. But he never threw anything, never blew up. He just kept getting open in the second half only to look back and watch as McCarthy suffered four of his five sacks and both interceptions while posting a 34.2 passer rating.

“I wouldn’t say they did anything differently in the second half,” Jefferson said. “Their D-line is good. And they kept pretty much a blanket over the top of us so we couldn’t run downfield. It was mostly zone and allowing their D-line to go attack the quarterback.”

Asked whether there are ways to keep him involved with shorter, quicker throws, Jefferson said: “That’s a great question. That’s something for the play-callers to really answer and for me to just go out there and continue to do what I got to do to get open, create that separation and once the ball is up and coming my way make that play. I don’t know.”

Jefferson needs only 148 yards the rest of this season to break Randy Moss’ record of 8,375 yards receiving through six seasons. He would rather be making a playoff run that’s virtually impossible at this point.