Justin Jefferson’s Gravity Was the Real MVP Vs Chicago
Credit: Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images
Just about everyone on the Minnesota Vikings looked great on Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Bears. Sam Darnold threw for 330 yards and two touchdowns — an efficient, turnover-free effort. Jordan Addison racked up a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown, finally getting the true breakout game that eluded him in 2024. T.J. Hockenson had his biggest game since returning from injury, with seven catches for 114 yards. Aaron Jones racked up 129 all-purpose yards and a score. Even Jalen Nailor found the end zone.
Everyone got to shine, except for Justin Jefferson.
The Bears sold out to shut down Jefferson, and it showed. Until a 20-yard grab in overtime, Chicago limited Jefferson to just one catch for seven yards. His final statline — 27 yards on two receptions — represents the sixth-fewest yards of his 78-game career.
That’s a horrible game, if you’re just looking at it from the perspective of his individual stats or from a fantasy perspective. But if you’re standing where Kevin O’Connell is, Jefferson might well have been the MVP of the Vikings’ first 30-point showing since Week 4.
"wow they stopped justin jefferson"
TJ Hockenson – 114
Aaron Jones – 129
Jordan Addison – 162let's push this narrative so other teams copy the bears strategy
— Luke Braun (@LukeBraunNFL) November 24, 2024
The Bears showed the league what a poison pill it is to shut down Jefferson by any means necessary. Yeah, they did it, but it’s like dinosaur cloning. They were too concerned with whether they could do it that they didn’t stop to consider whether they should. Kevin O’Connell perfectly schemed for the Bears’ strategy, getting Addison and T.J. Hockenson open on deep passes all game. The first example came in the dying seconds of the first quarter.
Jordan Addison comes down with it!
📺: #MINvsCHI on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/VqxtVBQ3JY— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2024
Credit to Terell Smith (No. 32), who covers Addison pretty well here, but he has absolutely zero help because O’Connell has Jefferson and Hockenson crossing the middle of the field to draw four defenders into the middle of the field. You can see this at the moment the Darnold unloads.
Courtesy of Next Gen Stats
Again, Smith lends solid coverage, but Jefferson simply commands too much attention to give Chicago a contingency plan. The next play saw Addison catch We can also see it on Addison’s 69-yard catch-and-run to start the third quarter.
Jordan Addison bounces off a defender for a 69-yard gain!
📺: #MINvsCHI on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/OVIYAQc3Rk— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2024
By the time the ball travels 20 yards down the field, Addison has players around him to miss a tackle, but this play was made possible by Jefferson’s gravitational pull. Look at how open Addison was at the time of Darnold’s release:
Courtesy of Next Gen Stats
Jonathan Owens (No. 36) has to hang back in the middle of the field in order to cover for the threat of Jefferson, which gives Addison so much space in the middle of the field. That leaves Owens a half-step late to where Addison makes the catch, giving him a one-on-one with linebacker T.J. Edwards (No. 53).
We don’t even need to see the play diagram to figure out how Nailor got open for his touchdown. With Jefferson surrounded by three Bears, Darnold is free to take the safe play underneath, and Jefferson’s presence forces Jaylen Johnson (No. 1) to hesitate just enough to let Nailor barely cross the plane.
.@jalennailor gives the #Vikings the lead!
📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/D3AZuw1nDE
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) November 24, 2024
And while Jefferson extended Minnesota’s game-winning drive with a 20-yard grab to erase a 1st & 15, he was equally impactful on Darnold’s 29-yard pass to Hockenson to set up a chip-shot field goal for John Parker Romo. Tremaine Edmunds, Johnson, and Owens are all pulled across the field by Jefferson’s slant. By the time Darnold throws the ball, the only thing in position to stop Hockenson from a big gain is a drop from the tight end.
Courtesy of Next Gen Stats
You can bet that Jefferson wants to get more involved in the game and put up more numbers, but there’s zero chance that O’Connell and Darnold are disappointed with what he brought to the table on Sunday. It’s the rare moment when what Jefferson does doesn’t show up in the stat sheet, but anyone thinking about real football can see just how much Jefferson limited the effectiveness of the Bears’ secondary. Two catches and 27 yards is a weird statline for a game’s MVP, but it’s hard to argue that Jefferson wasn’t Minnesota’s most impactful player on Sunday.
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