This Vikings Player Can Wreck the Packers on Sunday 

For Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, even a disappointing year is a great year. Entering Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, his 747 receiving yards are almost as many as Green Bay’s top two receivers combined.

“Oh, man, he is as good as they get in this business,” is what head coach Matt LaFleur said about Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson. “I love how the guy competes with the football, without the football.

“Matter of fact, there was a clip that we showed just, you can see the urgency of which he plays. He catches the ball, he goes to the ground, nobody touches him, he gets up and he gets 15 yards, you know, after going to the ground. So, he can run every route. There’s not a route he can’t run. He can run short routes, the choice routes, he can go deep on you. He’s got tremendous ball skills. I just think there’s a lot to like about his game.” 

Jefferson is capable of wrecking any game. Of 87 career games, he has 36 with 100-plus yards and 35 with at least one touchdown. Two of his 11 150-yard games came against the Packers.

By Jefferson’s standards, he is having a down year. The 1,270 yards he is on pace for would be the second-lowest of his career. His worst was in the 2023 season, when he only played 10 games but still managed 1,074 receiving yards. 

While he may not be having a great season compared to past years, he is still one of the best receivers in the NFL at seventh in receiving yards and 13th in receptions. 

Where Jefferson has struggled is finding the end zone. Through 10 games, he has scored just twice, putting him on pace to finish with just three touchdowns – a career low. While that is a bad season for a player of his caliber, that is a byproduct of the issues at quarterback.

The Vikings have been struggling with poor quarterback play all season. In five starts apiece, J.J. McCarthy and Carston Wentz have combined for 12 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. After missing five games with an ankle injury, McCarthy will be making his fourth consecutive start. In his first season as the team’s starting quarterback, he hasn’t had a game of 50 percent completions and 160-plus yards.

While the Vikings may be struggling in the passing game this season, Jefferson can still be a problem. After starting the season slowly, he exploded for 120-plus yards in Weeks 4 and 5, when Wentz was starting. Since then, his production has diminished. In the three games back together with McCarthy, he caught 6-of-9 targets for 47 yards and one touchdown in the upset win at Detroit, 4-of-12 targets for 37 yards in the loss to Baltimore and 5-of-9 targets for 61 yards in last week’s loss to Chicago.

Not only is Jefferson one of the most unstoppable players in the NFL, attention on him means less attention on the Vikings’ other playmakers. 

“Well, you’re playing, it’s not just Justin Jefferson, who I think is the premier wide receiver in the league, after seeing him twice last year,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “They’ve got a really good offensive line. I think both backs are really good. The tight end’s been playing for a long time. And then they have (Jordan) Addison and some other good receivers, so they’ve got two first-round picks at wideout who are really talented. They can run the ball.” 

While Hafley has to gameplan for the entire Vikings offense, which is full of talented skill players, it all comes back to Jefferson. 

“But you definitely have to, you have to try to affect Justin,” he said, “and that’s going to be affecting the quarterback. It’s going to be changing the picture for him. It's going to be changing the coverages. It’s going to be at times getting your hands on Justin. It’s going to be at times putting two on Justin. It’s going to be at times having Justin one-on-one because you’re doing something else, but that certainly is a challenge.” 

Packers cornerbacks Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine have been having good seasons and could be up to the challenge of slowing down Jefferson. Nixon is tied for the league lead in passes defensed with 14 and Valentine has allowed one of the lowest catch percentages in the league.

“Any time you play a team that got two good receivers, it’s money on the line,” Nixon said. “Plenty of games we played this year that had two receivers, it’s just another opp for me and C.V. Going to keep playing ball. Definitely excited for the matchups for sure.”

While some of the focus could be shifted to a young quarterback making his first start at Lambeau Field in a rivalry game, all eyes should be on Jefferson, who could end up being the story of the game if the Packers’ secondary can’t slow him down.