Justin Jefferson Falls 16 Yards Short of Randy Moss's Single-Season Vikings Receiving Record
Justin Jefferson entered Sunday's game against the Bears needing 124 receiving yards to break Randy Moss's single-season Vikings receiving yardage record, which has stood since 2003. He finished the game with 107, falling 16 yards short of tying Moss and 17 short of breaking the record.
The Vikings appeared to have a few opportunities at the end of the game to give Jefferson a chance at the record, but chose to run out the clock on a 31-17 victory instead.
Things started slow for Jefferson. He had just two catches for 32 yards in the first half. After halftime, FOX sideline reporter Megan Olivi said Jefferson had been begging for the ball as he knew the record was within reach. The second-year receiver showed up to the stadium this morning with that achievement on his mind.
Then Jefferson got going, as he so often does. He caught a 45-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, then gained 26 yards on a grab a few minutes later.
The record was within reach.
With the Vikings at the Bears' 21-yard-line, there was a golden opportunity. Jefferson came wide open on a crossing route for what would've been a touchdown and the record, but Kirk Cousins hit K.J. Osborn for a score instead. Obviously, you can't fault Cousins for throwing a touchdown pass, but Jefferson was definitely open and briefly threw up his arms in frustration before seeing that Osborn had scored.
After a pick-six and another interception, the Vikings had one more chance. They tried to get Jefferson the ball on a screen pass to open the drive, but it was incomplete. Then, for whatever reason, they ran it on 2nd and 10 and 3rd and 14.
The Vikings got the ball back again with a little over a minute to play, but ran one running play and kneeled it out instead of trying to get Jefferson the record, which I suppose may have broken an unwritten rule of running up the score in a game that was already decided.
"I don't care about records," said Mike Zimmer. "I only care about wins."
So the end result for Jefferson is 1,616 yards on the season, second-most in the NFL in 2021. With his 1,400 last year as a rookie, he's the first player in NFL history with 3,000 yards through his first two seasons.
With the way Jefferson has played so far in his career, the fact that he's still 22 years old, and the 17-game seasons, he may well have a chance to break Moss's record as soon as next season, depending on the Vikings' quarterback situation.
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