Vikings, Commanders are part of the NFL’s exclusive consistently inconsistent club

Justin Jefferson remains on track to post historic individual statistics that no receiver in NFL history — not even Randy Moss, his iconic Vikings predecessor — has produced through the first six seasons of a career.

Big deal.

Right now, Jefferson’s look, his words, his silence after last week’s shutout in Seattle, all represent the frustrated face of an entire team, a franchise, a Vikings Nation that’s 4-8 and all but assured of missing the postseason and remaining alongside Sunday’s opponent, Washington (3-9), as one of the league’s five most consistently inconsistent playoff participants of the past quarter century.

“It’s just one of those years,” Jefferson said.

It is. And yet the Vikings seem to have them every other year because of the two most common reasons that befall a franchise: injuries and instability at quarterback due to injuries, inexperience or, in the case of J.J. McCarthy this season, both.

The Vikings have made the playoffs 10 times this quarter-century, tied for ninth best. But they’ve done it in consecutive seasons only once (2008-09). Since 2010, the Vikings, Washington, Jacksonville, Chicago and Cleveland are the only teams without consecutive playoff seasons.

“Is it just about getting your quarterback? I think it is,” said Brad Childress, the only Vikings coach to post consecutive playoff appearances this quarter-century.

“Andy said, ‘If you ever get that quarterback situation straight, you got something,’” Childress said.

Favre led the Vikings to the NFC title game the next season. Since then, the Vikings have started 20 quarterbacks in 16 seasons. Five of them went 2-6 in six playoff appearances over 15 seasons: Joe Webb (0-1), Teddy Bridgewater (0-1), Case Keenum (1-1), Kirk Cousins (1-2) and Sam Darnold (0-1) last season.

The hope — no, the expectation — for this year was a seamless transition with reigning NFL Coach of the Year Kevin O’Connell, McCarthy coming off a knee injury that wiped out his entire rookie season, and $300 million worth of veteran free-agent signings.

“It was the perfect storm,” said Rich Gannon, former Vikings quarterback and 2002 league MVP. “Sam plays great. It’s ‘Kevin’s the Quarterback Whisperer.’ ‘Throw anybody in there and he can make them Johnny Unitas or Fran Tarkenton.’

“I live in Minnesota. People asking me in the summer, ‘Can J.J. take them to the Super Bowl?’ I’m like, ‘Guys, you got no idea how hard this is.’ There were unrealistic expectations on J.J.”

Like McCarthy, Daniels is 2-4 and has missed six games because of injuries. Last year’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Daniels also leads a roster that’s been riddled by injuries since Washington’s surprise run to the NFC title game a year ago.

“It’s hard to compare problems,” said defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, a Viking who was with Washington last season. “I think to sustain success, you need to sustain consistency at quarterback. Not have a lot of changes. That’s just the game we play.

“That was the problem we had every year in Washington until last year with Jayden. Last year was special, a lot like high school when you have the most athletic, explosive player playing quarterback. And he’s a really good passer, too.”

Sports Info Solutions is a football data website that uses a proprietary metric to place a value on each player and then rank teams by total points lost due to injuries. According to SIS, Washington, which has 143 games lost because of injuries, ranks fourth behind the 49ers, Cardinals and Bengals among the teams most impacted by injuries. The Vikings, who have 122 games lost because of injuries, rank 23rd.

People inside the walls at TCO Performance Center would argue that’s too low. After all, last week the Vikings were down to an undrafted rookie quarterback, Max Brosmer, for what became the team’s first shutout loss in 18 years. Also, their preferred starting offensive line has been together for only a portion of one game.

“We are in the midst of troubling times,” O’Connell said.

“How we persevere … is how the path moving forward will be forged upon,” he said.

“We are in a moment when we all got to respond the right way together,” he said.

“Ultimately, you prove what you’re about in these moments because there is justified noise, and a lot of it,” he said.

O’Connell, the offensive play-caller, has been careful to separate his side of the ball from coordinator Brian Flores’ 10th-ranked defense while assessing the carnage that’s been unfolding.

“We got to limit our inventory and just demand execution,” he said.

“To get the quote, unquote ‘train back on the tracks,’ we got to stop doing things to lose games before we can give ourselves a chance to win them,” he said.

Vikings Nation has seen this movie before.

Coach Leslie Frazier was 3-13 in 2011, a 10-6 playoff qualifier in 2012 and a 5-10-1 fired coach in 2013. Mike Zimmer was 11-5 and division champion in 2015, 8-8 and out of the playoffs in 2016, 13-3 with Keenum en route to the NFC title game in 2017, 8-7-1 and out of the playoffs with Cousins in 2018, back in the playoffs and upsetting the Saints at the Superdome in 2019 and fired after going 15-18 with no postseasons in 2020-21.

O’Connell took essentially the same roster and went 13-4 (8-1 at home) in reaching the playoffs in 2022, 7-10 (2-6 at home) with Cousins hurt in 2023, 14-3 (8-1 at home) last year and, well, here we are. Again.

Beyond finding the right quarterback and developing him, what are the keys to staying a playoff team? Asked this question, O’Connell said:

“It’s simple things sometimes. The depth. The players who are going to be stepping in, have they been in your system? Are they that true next man up? Or are they players who maybe are the next man up just because of the necessity to acquire a player” at that time.

The Vikings have only four players on their roster who were drafted three to five years ago, which is the last draft with Rick Spielman as general manager and the first two of current GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s four drafts. Two are starters, Christian Darrisaw via Spielman’s system and Jordan Addison via Adofo-Mensah’s operation.

The Packers still have 18 players (12 starters) they drafted three to five years ago. The Lions have 13 (11 starters). The Bears have six (five).

“Continuity is a huge reason why consistent playoff teams have a ton of success going to playoffs year in and year out,” Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said. “There’s not a ton of movement from a coaching standpoint or a player’s standpoint too. The more connected team you have … that’s when you’re able to see teams that thrive.”

“Good coaches are going to solve problems and find ways to right the ship,” Phillips said. “And I believe we have a very good football coach. In fact, I know that. Good coaches find solutions and we’ll be right back where we’ll need to be.”

Meanwhile, Jefferson is coming off a career-low 4 yards receiving while needing eight catches and 145 yards receiving to pass Jarvis Landry and Moss, respectively, to take the all-time lead in those categories among players in their first six seasons.

Big deal.

Instead, Jefferson spent his Thursday news conference discussing a difficult time of his career, his thoughts on likely missing the playoffs for the fourth time in six seasons, how he trusts “this group” to turn things around and whether he feels like the prime of his career is being wasted.

“I wouldn’t say wasted,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a difficult season. It’s probably one of the most difficult situations just off the circumstances. Having a young quarterback. Having a different team. Having young players on the team. It’s just one of those years.”