Top 3 Storylines in Vikings-Lions, Led By Justin Jefferson's Pursuit of History
There are no playoff implications on the line for the Vikings' game against the Lions on Sunday. Realistically, the loser of the game will benefit most, as they'll improve their draft positioning by several spots. But these teams won't view it that way. Each squad wants to end their season on a high note by picking up a victory and heading into the offseason with some positive momentum.
A win for the Vikings would extend their winning streak over Detroit to seven games and prevent their first season with six or fewer victories during the Mike Zimmer era. It would also happen to get Kirk Cousins' career record as a starter back to exactly .500. For the Lions, a win would be the second of interim coach Darrell Bevell's head coaching career, and it would come against his former team.
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But when discussing things to watch for during this game and notable storylines, I'm not too focused on the actual outcome. Instead, I'm more interested in seeing how specific players perform and what that could mean heading into 2021. Regardless of who wins or loses, here are three things I will be watching during Sunday's game.
Will Justin Jefferson make history?
The final game of the 2020 season means that this is the last time we get to watch Justin Jefferson play as a rookie. It's been a special season for Jefferson, who has emerged as one of the NFL's best receivers at just 21 years old. He's the centerpiece of a rookie class that is the No. 1 reason to be optimistic about the Vikings next season and beyond.
Jefferson should have another opportunity to feast against a Lions defense that has been abysmal this season. Detroit leads the NFL in points allowed per game (32.1) and ranks second (in a bad way) in yards allowed per game (413.9). They don't have a single cornerback capable of sticking with Jefferson in single coverage like Marshon Lattimore did at times last week in New Orleans. He was held to 64 yards when these teams last met, seeing just four targets in a game where Dalvin Cook went over 250 yards from scrimmage, but Jefferson has received eight-plus targets in six of the seven games since then.
There's plenty of history on the line for Jefferson this week. He needs 47 yards to break Randy Moss's Vikings rookie record for receiving yards, and 111 yards to break Anquan Boldin's NFL record. Those both seem well within reach. If Jefferson does post his seventh 100-yard game, he would join Odell Beckham Jr. as the only players to ever do so since the NFL-AFL merger. This one is less likely, but if Jefferson were to explode for 207 yards, he would break the all-time record set by Bill Groman in the AFL back in 1960.
Cousins isn't going to force-feed targets to Jefferson, but I'd be surprised if the star rookie didn't see at least ten of them on Sunday.
"You hear about it all the time," Gary Kubiak said of Jefferson's proximity to several NFL records. "If we play our football and play our game, Justin’s going to catch his balls and be effective in the game. We’ll stay focused on playing good against Detroit. Let’s just go be us and usually when we’re us, 18 makes some plays. So hopefully that’ll continue this week."
At this point, Jefferson is a major longshot to beat out Justin Herbert for Offensive Rookie of the Year, but it's not an impossibility. If he breaks Boldin's record and Herbert struggles against a Chiefs team that will be resting plenty of starters, I'd have to imagine Jefferson would get some consideration for the award.
Which other young players will step up for Minnesota?
Jefferson gets the majority of the attention, but he's not the only exciting young player on the Vikings' roster. There are plenty of others who will be important in 2021 and beyond, and many of them will have one last opportunity to impress this week. Much like last year's game against the Bears in Week 17, this week is a chance for the coaching staff to begin evaluating players ahead of the offseason.
“Like I told the team, this is the last game that we play this year, so my evaluation for the next season will start this week," Zimmer said. "See how they go out and perform this week, and this is a game that I’ll remember throughout the offseason as we start moving forward. I just want them to go out and play fast, play physical and play like they’re supposed to."
Despite what Zimmer might say, I'm not sure how important this game will actually be for evaluation purposes. Guys like Mike Boone, Oli Udoh, and Armon Watts shined against the Bears in last year's finale, and it didn't exactly lead to expanded roles for them this year. But I'm still very curious to see how some of these young players perform.
Sticking with the rookies, Cameron Dantzler is out but several others will see plenty of snaps. Jeff Gladney and Harrison Hand will start at cornerback. Ezra Cleveland will get maybe the final start of his career at guard, although a move to left tackle in the offseason isn't a guarantee. D.J. Wonnum is the team's most talented healthy defensive end with Ifeadi Odenigbo and Jalyn Holmes out. Troy Dye should see some playing time at linebacker and could use a good game after a rough rookie year.
One non-rookie who I'm curious to watch is second-year running back Alexander Mattison, who will make his second career start with Cook out for personal reasons. His previous start didn't go very well, as Mattison was held to 30 yards on 11 touches in a blowout loss to the Falcons back in Week 6. He should be in line for a much bigger day this time around, although Boone and Ameer Abdullah figure to see some snaps as well.
Other young players who aren't rookies that I'll be paying attention to: Garrett Bradbury, Irv Smith Jr., Hercules Mata'afa, Jordan Brailford, and Watts.
Can Kirk Cousins end the year on a high note?
It's been an interesting season for Cousins. When the Vikings entered their bye week at 1-5, he deserved a good amount of blame for that record. At that point, Cousins had as many touchdowns (11) as turnovers (10 INTs, one lost fumble). Some of those interceptions weren't exactly his fault, but several of them were the result of really bad decision-making or accuracy.
To his credit, Cousins turned things around after the bye week. He's thrown 21 touchdowns since then with just three interceptions, leading the Vikings to a 5-4 record despite poor play from the interior offensive line, the defense, and kicker Dan Bailey. Those three interceptions were a ball that bounced off Adam Thielen's chest in Chicago, a screen pass against the Jaguars that was a miscommunication between Cousins and Cook, and a Hail Mary against the Bears in Week 15. Cousins did lose a fumble in four straight games during that stretch, which obviously isn't good, but he's basically been the quarterback the Vikings want him to be ever since the bye week.
Given his contract situation, there's little doubt that Cousins will be the Vikings' quarterback in 2021 (and probably 2022, too). The only way he'd play for another team next season would be if the Vikings trade him this offseason. Do I think that's likely, regardless of how Cousins plays in Detroit? Not at all. Could an ugly performance against an awful Lions defense theoretically make the Vikings think a little bit harder about drafting someone like NDSU's Trey Lance in April? Maybe. Maybe not.
I fully expect Cousins to play well against the Lions, because it would be very difficult not to. But if he struggles, even though the game is meaningless, the conversations about Cousins' future might look a little different as we head into the offseason.
Oh, and a win in this game would get Cousins' career regular-season record right back to .500 at 51-51-2. Whether it's fair or not, that would be pretty on-brand for Cousins, or at least for the narratives that seem to surround his career.
Kickoff is at 12 p.m. central time on FOX.
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