Justin Jefferson's leadership on display in postgame comments after loss

Justin Jefferson has to be frustrated right now.

Not just because he isn't putting up the dominant numbers he's used to, but because the Vikings aren't winning. Jefferson is the ultimate competitor, and Sunday's loss to the Bears means Minnesota will likely have to go 6-1 down the stretch just to have a chance at its first postseason win in Jefferson's six-year career. With the way their young quarterback is playing right now, that doesn't feel particularly realistic.

And yes, Jefferson probably isn't thrilled about his individual numbers, either. The man with more receiving yards than anyone has ever had to begin an NFL career has now played five games with J.J. McCarthy and averaged a shockingly pedestrian 54 yards in those outings, with a max of 81. On Sunday, he was targeted nine times and caught five balls for 61 yards. One of the four misses was maybe catchable, but it was rifled above Jefferson's head and would've required quite the grab. The other three weren't in the same zip code as the Vikings' superstar receiver.

There are plenty of reasons for understandable frustration from Jefferson. And yet, as he's done throughout his career when things haven't gone to plan, he didn't let it show in his postgame press conference. That's a setting where another star receiver might've vented or given cryptic answers, but Jefferson took the leadership route.

"The frustrations are there," he said. "It happens, it's part of football, part of growing, part of figuring things out. We just gotta do better all-around. Every phase. Executing the plays and just coming out there with that sense of urgency and wanting to win and having to win. That's the main focus and we just gotta go back to work and figure things out."

Justin Jefferson — Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

McCarthy had another brutal outing at U.S. Bank Stadium. Before putting together a late drive to briefly give the Vikings a one-point lead, he had completed 10 of 24 passes for 74 yards and two interceptions. One of those interceptions came on a pass intended for Jefferson, who has been the target on five of McCarthy's eight picks. The Vikings' young quarterback also spiked a throw for Jefferson and sailed one wildly over his head.

McCarthy obviously needs to play better. But at the same time, his teammates could be doing more to help him. That was clearly true last week, when false starts and an uncharacteristic off game from Jefferson were issues. This week, there were at least four drops on McCarthy passes.

Despite the offense's struggles for so much of the day, they were able to put together an 85-yard touchdown drive when they had to have it in the final minutes. McCarthy was 6 for 8 for 76 yards and the go-ahead TD on that series, which stood out to Jefferson.

"It wasn't the best game for all of us," Jefferson said. "All of us, I felt like we should've played better, all in all. But at the end of the day, when it all counted and it all mattered, J.J. stepped up. So that's the main key focus of it. Of course there are things to work through, of course there's things to fix on the offensive side of the ball, and we feel that we have to help the defense out a lot more than what we were doing."

The Vikings are in a strange spot right now. They won 14 games last season and entered this year in clear win-now mode with a quarterback who hadn't yet made his NFL debut. Ten games into the season and five games into McCarthy's career, they're trying to develop a young quarterback on the fly while also winning. Over the last couple weeks, that has proved too difficult to pull off, given the extent of McCarthy's growing pains.

It's a new experience for Jefferson, who has put up huge numbers with every other quarterback he's played with in the NFL. But outside of showing a bit of frustration on the field, he's handled this about as well as the Vikings could've hoped. He was as fired up about his block on Jordan Mason's touchdown run in the fourth quarter as he would've been about catching a TD.

Justin Jefferson takes out some of his frustration with a key block on Mason's touchdown. pic.twitter.com/oJ2Zsyl5up
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) November 16, 2025

After the game, as has been the case throughout his career, Jefferson's comments showed why he's a rare kind of superstar receiver. Obviously, he's frustrated. Being patient with a developing young quarterback on a team that was built to win isn't easy. But Jefferson isn't pointing fingers at anyone other than himself.

"It's not something that we're kind of keeping under the rug or anything," he said. "Yes, it's difficult. But as a team, as a captain, as a leader of this team, I have to be the first one out there. I gotta be headfirst leading us into that direction of winning, of being where we need to be. So if that takes taking J.J. out and getting more time with him and creating that connection with him, then that's what I gotta do. I have to figure out what I have to do in order to get us over that hump."

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