Advancing to 6-0 with a win over Detroit would send up a flare that the Vikings are the team to beat in the NFC and possibly the entire league.
EAGAN — Inside the empty practice facility at TCO Performance Center, Justin Jefferson stands in front of a handful of media members in sweatpants, a hoodie and his fuzzy slippers. By Year 5 of these weekly press conferences with Jefferson, we have reached the point where each side knows what’s coming. He will address how he expects the opponents to guard him and the magnitude of the game.
During his previous four seasons, his teams have never been in this position before. In his rookie year, the Vikings started 1-4. In Year 2, they were 2-3 at this point. They were 4-1 in 2022 but reeled off three tightrope wins against mediocre teams and were still questioned as a real contender. Last year, they went 1-4 again. This time around, the Vikings lead the NFL in point differential.
When he was asked whether he enjoys playing against the Lions, he laughed for about 10 seconds before giving a non-disrespectful answer. But he knows. The 5-0 start to this season has been even better than the best-case scenario that the Vikings could have imagined to begin the season. A win against the Lions could potentially propel them to go farther than they have gone before with Jefferson as the superstar.
“You recognize it definitely in that receiver room,” O’Connell said of Jefferson’s leadership. “I can think back to when Speedy was scoring a touchdown early on in the season. Everybody saw celebrating and he was the most excited on the whole team… Then to that very same point the following week, you see him put his arm around Jordan as he works through the ankle and he gets it. He understands his role.
But it was certainly bound to be an adjustment without the QB he played with for the first four seasons of his career. During training camp, Jefferson repeatedly urged Darnold to trust him. There were good days and bumpy ones during the summer but by the end they seemed to be on the same page. In Week 2, that came to fruition as the veteran quarterback saw the results of that trust when he found Jefferson for a 97-yard touchdown en route to beating the San Francisco 49ers.
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