With the San Francisco 49ers losing to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon and the Kansas City Chiefs dropping their primetime matchup to Sam Darnold and the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night, the Minnesota Vikings are now the lone unbeaten team in the NFL, as they improved to 6-0 with a Week 7 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
While the 16-10 victory certainly wasn't the prettiest, a win is a win, and this particular victory included several history-making moments.
With his game-clinching interception on former Vikings QB Daniel Jones late in the fourth quarter, the 40th of his legendary career, safety Harrison Smith became just the third player in NFL history to tally 40 picks and 20 sacks, joining Hall of Famers Ronde Barber and Charles Woodson.
And with the second of his three field goals on the afternoon, a 47-yarder in the second quarter, kicker Will Reichard extended his consecutive FGs made streak to 36, thus surpassing the great Gary Anderson for the longest in team history, which, oddly enough, ended when he had a 59-yarder blocked in the final frame.
And last but certainly not least, we naturally come to Justin Jefferson, who's joined an absurd amount of elite clubs over the years and joined another on Sunday, as he became just the seventh player in NFL history to record 600 career receptions in less than 100 regular-season games.
Justin Jefferson recorded his 600th career reception in Vikings' win over Colts
Sunday afternoon's matchup with the Colts marked the 99th regular-season game for Jefferson, and he came into this contest with 598 catches, with 19 of those coming this season.
The four-time Pro Bowler upped his total to 599 with roughly five and a half minutes remaining in the opening quarter on a 6-yard pass from Kyler Murray and then reached 600 on a 7-yarder that resulted in a first down eight plays later.
And with that 600th grab, as mentioned, he became only the seventh player to reach the milestone in 99 games or less, joining Keenan Allen, Anquan Boldin, Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, Cooper Kupp, and his fellow 2020 draftee, CeeDee Lamb.
So, that's certainly a solid group.
Jefferson added catches of 21 and 10 yards in the second quarter on the drive that ended with Reichard's history-making kick, but that turned out to be the extent of his day, as he and Murray failed to connect in the second half.
Nevertheless, with his four catches on the day, the simplest of math tells us that the 27-year-old now has 602 for his career.
And as such, he now needs just two catches to surpass four-time Pro Bowler Joe Horn (603) for 101st on the all-time list, and with nine more grabs, he'll find himself in solo 100th, as he'll move past the versatile Keith Byars (610).
As Jefferson is averaging a shade under four receptions per outing, with the Vikings being very careful with Murray in the passing game, it might take a couple of weeks for No. 18 to get into that top 100, but it's certainly something to keep an eye on as Minnesota prepares for its toughest stretch on the schedule over the next few weeks.
Add us as a preferred source on Google