The Minnesota Vikings are kicking off their 2025 season against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Monday night, but it has not been a great start for wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
Jefferson has become arguably the best wide receiver in the entire NFL over his first five seasons in the league, which is made more impressive by the fact that he's played with multiple quarterbacks, including Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold.
In 2025, Jefferson has a new quarterback once again in second-year signal-caller J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie campaign with a knee injury.
The problem is that McCarthy has never played a snap in the NFL prior to Monday night, so it's hard to gauge how he and Jefferson will mesh in what is essentially his first season.
As a result, don't be surprised if Jefferson gets off to a slow start like he's going through in Week 1. Here's the latest on the situation for Minnesota.
Is Justin Jefferson playing tonight?
UPDATE: Jefferson finally has his first catch of the night with around seven minutes left in the first half.
The reception went for three yards.
END OF UPDATE
UPDATE: Jefferson has now recorded his first target, but it didn't result in a catch.
He still has just one carry for four yards with a little under nine minutes left in the second quarter.
END OF UPDATE
Jefferson is active and in the lineup on Monday night, he just hasn't received a target from McCarthy yet.
Adding to that, Minnesota's offense has struggled over its first few drives. Jefferson does, however, have one carry for four yards as of this writing.
Hopefully things improve soon.
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