Justin Jefferson and the Vikings Aren't Giving Up on This Season

The Vikings may be off to a slow start, but there's no lack of confidence in their locker room. They believe they can be one of the rare teams that recovers from an 0-3 start to reach the postseason.

Justin Jefferson, who leads the league with 458 receiving yards in the season's first three games, thinks the Vikings can turn their season around if they can just take care of the football.

"I feel like it's just the turnovers, that's what's keeping our drives shortened when we get into the red zone," he said this week. "We're definitely working on the turnover battle. We just keep on trying to stress to hold onto the ball, protect the ball."

The Vikings have turned the ball over an NFL-high nine times in three games, including seven lost fumbles. Along with some defensive struggles, that stat explains how the team is winless despite Kirk Cousins leading the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns.

Jefferson and others have pointed out that there are still 14 games left in this season, so it's too early to be jumping ship.

"At the end of the day, it's not going to be perfect every time," Jefferson said. "It's things that you've got to go through throughout the season to really tell if you're going to be a great team or not. Of course, we're handling the adversity earlier in the season with the turnovers and being 0-3 to start, but there is a whole bunch of more games to go."

The Vikings' superstar receiver said he's seen some discussion on social media about trading players or focusing on 2024, and he doesn't like it.

"I'm tired of people saying we're looking into next season or all of the trades and stuff like that," Jefferson said. "We're focused still on this season. We have a lot more games to go and we have a lot more things to accomplish this season. We're still focused in, and we still have the same goal as we had before the season. We just need to fix a few things and I feel like we'll be back on track."

The Vikings' attempt at a season turnaround has to begin this Sunday against the Panthers, who are one of the league's three other 0-3 teams. Carolina's -27 point differential is more than double the Vikings' -13.

"I think we have the right people in this building," head coach Kevin O'Connell said. "I think we have the right guys in that locker room. I am very, very confident that we will push forward through this test collectively, individually, and really the best version of this team is still out in front of us."

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