Minnesota Vikings Best and Worst: Week 13 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

More Good Stuff

It always feels good when the Minnesota Vikings can get a victory. Of course, it feels even better when that victory had a chance to move the team into the seventh seed of the NFC playoff picture if the Cardinals lost.

The highs outweighed the lows, but there were plenty of situations where that might not have been the case if things had gone a little differently. If not for some great plays from young players and veterans alike, this could have been an ugly game.

Other good things from Week 13

• The 2020 NFL Draft class stepping up. It’s amazing to see Justin Jefferson playing the way he considering he is just a rookie. He became a 1,000-yard receiver in this game and will build on that going forward. Ezra Cleveland, Jeff Gladney, and Cameron Dantzler all gained some great experience and looked solid this week. The potential for the future is great with this group.
• The big three. Kirk Cousins struggled this game to consistently complete passes, but he made it clear who his favorite targets were. 32 of his 43 passing attempts went to three targets, with 13 passes going toward Justin Jefferson, 11 in the direction of Adam Thielen, and nine going to Dalvin Cook. Those three are the playmakers that the quarterback seems to trust the most.
• Bend, but don’t break. The Minnesota defense actually played a really good game against Jacksonville. They only allowed two touchdowns and one was a fluke score that bounced off a Vikings defender and right into the hands of Laviska Shenault Jr. in the end zone and the second being a rushing touchdown near the very end of the regulation.
• Stepping up when needed. The Vikings’ defense was full of players who weren’t there last season. Eric Kendrick was a game-time scratch against the Jaguars and others are missing time, but players like Todd Davis, Jordan Brailford, Ryan Connelly, and others stepped into bigger roles and played well.