Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson said Thursday he wants to get back to “Year 3 Jets,” meaning his jaw-dropping 2022 season in which he caught 128 passes for 1,809 yards and eight touchdowns to win Offensive Player of the Year.
That could be scary for the Bears on Sunday.
“Just wanting to get back to that mode — I call it ‘Savage Mode,’” Jefferson said. “It’s just going out there with that ‘f’-it mentality and killing it.”
The Bears will deal with that minus their top two cornerbacks and possibly some other key defenders. At corner, Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon are on injured reserve, and Tyrique Stevenson is playing through a shoulder injury. Safety Jaquan Brisker was out of practice Thursday because of a back injury.
Brisker said last month his trash talk was so incisive that it made Jefferson cry during a 2022 game in Minneapolis. Jefferson caught all 10 passes thrown to him in the first half and put up 138 yards, in addition to throwing a 23-yard pass, but caught just 2 of 3 passes for 16 yards in the second half.
“The way I talk and the way other people talk, we get in people’s heads,” Brisker said. “A grown man will be really crying out there, a grown man with kids. Imagine that. Seriously. It’s hilarious.
“My rookie year … I was talking a lot of trash to Justin Jefferson, and he was crying. In the second half, that’s when he dropped, like, every ball. First half he killed us, but second half [nothing].”
Jefferson has done more laughing against the Bears than anything else. In nine career games against them, he has caught 54 passes for 729 yards and four touchdowns. He had four catches for 44 yards and a touchdown in the season opener.
The Vikings have gone 8-1 against the Bears with him on the field.
Jefferson is on pace for his sixth consecutive 1,000-yard season to open his career. He has 51 catches (13th in the NFL), 686 yards (eighth) and two touchdowns.
