For the first time since Sunday’s odd behavior by Justin Jefferson following a pair of interceptions in last week’s game against the Ravens, the Vikings wide receiver addressed his perceived lack of effort during a gathering with the press on Thursday.
“I’m not really mad at the situation that I’m in or I’m not mad at the players that we have or the plays that are being called,”Jefferson said. “Of course I’m mad after an interception. You want me to be happy and go chase ’em down? That’s not really something I want to happen. Of course, the outcome of the game is us losing.”
Jefferson appeared disinterested in making a tackle after two deep passes thrown to him by J.J. McCarthy were intercepted. On the first, Jefferson may have known that Malaki Starks was down by contact, thus making his nonchalant response to Starks getting up and running with the ball a moment not worth discussion. But on the second, when Jefferson tripped and Marlon Humphrey made an easy interception, Jefferson didn’t hustle to make the tackle.
“I was the one getting thrown that ball and it’s getting picked off. A lot of emotion goes towards that, but at the end of the day, I want to win, and I’m an ultra-competitor,” Jefferson explained.
“A lot of people that don’t play this game and don’t play sports don’t understand that competitive side of it. Yeah, I want to win, and emotionally things get heated sometimes. Things weren’t going our way at that moment. Just wanting a better outcome, and, of course, the offense that we have, I think we should be playing better than we are.”
Jefferson said he wants to get back to the 2022 version of himself, when he was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year. What’s taken him back a bit?
“Um, life. Just different things going on in my life. Just wanting to get back to that kid phase of loving— I still love football. But overly loving football. Overly loving being out there on Sundays,” Jefferson said.
We’ll see which version of Jefferson shows up Sunday against the Bears. While he isn’t putting up 2022 Jefferson numbers, he’s still one of the most impactful wide receivers on the planet. It’d be a smart bet to expect Jefferson to bounce back from a rare off game and dominate a leaky Bears defense on Sunday.
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