15 October 2023
CHICAGO — To offset the loss of the reigning offensive player of the year, the Vikings’ receiving corps took a collective approach against the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
When all-pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson sustained a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter of last week’s 27-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, it landed him on injured reserve, which means he must miss a minimum of four games.
In Jefferson’s absence Sunday, quarterback Kirk Cousins spread the ball around to six receivers in the Vikings’ 19-13 victory over the Bears. Cousins completed 21 of 31 passes for 181 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.
Tight end T.J. Hockenson was targeted a team-high eight times, resulting in six receptions for 50 yards.
K.J. Osborn had four catches for 48 yards, and rookie Jordan Addison had three receptions and the Vikings’ only offensive touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Cousins.
Brandon Powell had three catches for 20 yards, and running back Alexander Mattison had four catches for 28 yards. Cam Akers had the other reception.
“You know the ball’s coming to you,” Osborn said. “If 18 (Jefferson) isn’t out there, it’s probably going to get spread around a little more.”
Jefferson had a team-high 36 catches for 571 yards with three touchdowns at the time of his injury. Last season, he had 128 receptions for 1,809, both tops in the league. In 2021, he had 108 catches for 1,616 yards. And he had 88 catches for 1,400 yards as a rookie in 2020.
So, without him, the Vikings have a problem.
“I think we’re very confident in our room.” Osborn said of the receiving corps. “We all know that we have a lot of talent in our room. J.J’s obviously a huge contributor of that, the driving force. But he went down, and we’ve got to step up. Guys have to step up, and I think we’re able to do that.”
With the score tied 6-6 after exchanging field goals, Addison lined up left, split a pair of Bears defenders and hauled in Cousins’ toss to put Minnesota up 12-6 with 12 seconds left in the first half.
“With that specific play, I had run it in practice and I was a little slow,” said Addison, the Vikings’ first-round pick this year. “So, I made sure that when I got in the game, I made sure I hit it right, and Kirk put the ball right in there.”
The Vikings play host to the San Francisco 49ers next Monday, and the receiving corps has to continue to adjust, Hockenson said.
“Obviously, J.J.’s a big part of our offense,” said Hockenson, whose eight catches tied him with Jefferson for the team lead at 36. “We’re still working through some things without him out there. And, this is just the first week (without Jefferson). He’s out for four. We’ve got a long week this week, and we’ve got to figure it out.”
The Vikings managed just 46 yards on the ground on 22 attempts, with three rushing first downs.
“Offensively we’ve got to be better,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “Didn’t run it all that well today. Didn’t handle the movement. Didn’t handle a lot of the things we anticipated that we did see, and then in general, just a couple plays here and there in the pass game.
“I thought Kirk played really clean, really efficient football, gave some guys some opportunities. Jordan down the sideline in the first half, a couple third downs there where we’re just slightly off. We’ll detail stuff up and continue to try to push forward.”
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