Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is widely known as one of the best receivers in the NFL, and he showed exactly why by breaking a franchise record on Sunday against the Detroit Lions.
Jefferson had an unreal day, racking up 11 receptions for a whopping 223 yards in a losing effort for the Vikings.
While it certainly was not the result that he was hoping for in the game, his individual performance set the Vikings record for the most receiving yards in a game.
Justin Jefferson set a Vikings single-game franchise record with 223 receiving yards on 11 catches in Minnesota's week 14 loss to Detroit. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/b9su15dCnv
— TSN EDGE (@TSN_Edge) December 11, 2022
This unreal day puts Jefferson very close to being on pace to potentially set the NFL record for receiving yards in a season.
After Sunday’s dominant performance, Jefferson is sitting at exactly 1,500 receiving yards on the year.
Justin Jefferson now leads the NFL with 1,500 receiving yards.
He needs to average 125/game over the last four to hit 2,000.
He's gone over that mark six times this season so far.
— The Daily Norseman ░V░I░K░ I░N░G░S░ ░I░N░ ░B░I░0░ (@DailyNorseman) December 12, 2022
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Jefferson is currently on pace for 1,961 receiving yards, which would put him three yards short of Calvin Johnson’s record of 1,964 in a single season.
With four games remaining for Jefferson and the Vikings, he would need to average 117 yards per game to hold the record, which certainly seems plausible considering his excellent play down in recent games.
While this would seemingly be a goal that many players would absolutely be shooting to reach, Jefferson detailed in an interview with Vikings beat reporter Chris Tomasson on Sunday that individual accolades are not his main goal.
“I’m proud of myself individually but it isn’t an individual game. So I would rather have the win over the stats any day,” said Jefferson when asked about breaking the franchise record on Sunday. “We just got to execute our plays and come ready to play next week.”
#Vikings WR Justin Jefferson on breaking Sammy White’s record: “I’m proud of myself individually but it isn’t an individual game. So I would rather have the win over the stats any day. We just got to execute our plays and come ready to play next week.”
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) December 11, 2022
Jefferson and the Vikings will take on the Indianapolis Colts next week, with an opportunity to clinch the NFC North division with a win.