INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Mike Zimmer wasn’t too happy his offensive coordinator had publicly stated the Minnesota Vikings needed to get the ball more to Justin Jefferson. Then again, that had seemed pretty obvious.
In the previous two games, the star wide receiver was targeted just nine times and had just five catches for 90 yards, and the Vikings lost both times. But Jefferson on Sunday erupted for nine catches for 143 yards in Minnesota’s 27-20 win over the Los Angeles Clippers at SoFi Stadium.
Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak had said last Thursday that the Vikings needed more targets for Jefferson because he “was well deserving of getting the ball more.’’ Divulging that sort of top-secret information did not go over well with the head coach.
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“He shouldn’t be telling that to the media,’’ Zimmer said after Sunday’s game. “But I did talk to Justin this week, and I told him we were going to get him the ball.”
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, who was more aggressive throwing downfield than in previous games, did the work in getting Jefferson the ball, and overall completed 25 of 37 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns. And Jefferson ended up making the play of the game.
With the Vikings leading 27-20 and facing third-and-6 at their 29 with 3:02 left in the game, Cousins threw a pass for 27 yards down the right sideline to Jefferson, who made a leaping grab and flopped out of bounds. The Chargers challenged the call, saying that Jefferson had bobbled the ball but lost the ruling.
“When the ball is thrown my way, try to go make a play,’’ Jefferson said. “Making a big play for my team, moving the ball up the field.”
To put the game on ice, the Vikings had to convert a fourth-and-2 from the Chargers 36 with 2:32 remaining. After Dalvin Cook ran for four yards, the Chargers had no timeouts left and Cousins took a knee three times.
“It’s nice to get a win, and I’m glad we were able to get one today,’’ Zimmer said. “Like I told the team today, ‘It takes a lot of courage to fight through adversity when everybody’s shooting arrows at you.’’’
The Vikings (4-5) had incurred plenty of criticism during their two-game losing streak. They lost a late lead and fell 20-16 to Dallas and backup quarterback Cooper Rush on Oct. 31. Then they lost a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter on Nov. 7 at Baltimore and lost 34-31 in overtime.
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Blowing leads has been the theme of the season for the Vikings, and they were able to survive on Sunday after it happened again. The Vikings led 13-3 in the second quarter before the Chargers (5-4) stormed back to take a 17-13 lead in the third quarter. But Minnesota was able to come back for the win.
“It feels amazing,’’ said tight end Tyler Conklin, who caught both of Cousins’ touchdown passes. “A lot of these (games), we could have won them. …That was the emphasis today. besides being aggressive, was when we get the opportunity (we need to) close out a game.”
Of their five losses this season, all have been by seven points or less, and they have been by a total of 18 points.
Playing before an announced crowd of 70,240 that seemed about half Vikings fans, the Vikings got going after a scoreless first quarter. They took a 13-3 lead in the quarter thanks to field goals of 46 and 30 yards by Greg Joseph and Conklin’s first score, a 5-yard grab with 3:26 left in the first half.
But the Chargers then mounted their comeback. They got a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:30 left in the first half by Larry Rountree to cut the deficit to 13-10, and that was the score at halftime. They then took a 17-13 lead on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Justin Herbert to Austin Ekeler on the first possession of the second half.
But the Vikings came back to take the lead for good at 20-17 on Cousins’ second touchdown pass to Conklin, a 1-yard completion on fourth down late in the third quarter. Cook, who rushed for 94 yards on 24 carries, put them up 27-17 on a 1-yard TD run with 9:29 left in the game. The Chargers’ Dustin Hopkins cut the deficit to 27-20 on a 24-yard field with 4:36 left, but they never got the ball back.
“Obviously, we’ve been in these same situations that we were in at the end of this games,’’ said Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks. “The past couple weeks, we haven’t been able to finish out. … Be we finished today.”
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Kendricks was a big reason why. He had an interception in the second quarter that led to Conklin’s first touchdown and a team-high eight tackles, including a sack of Herbert for 15 yards.
Herbert had an up-and-down game, completing 20 of 34 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown. This despite going against a Minnesota defense that was missing five top starters in injured Danielle Hunter, Patrick Peterson, Anthony Barr and Michael Pierce and in Harrison Smith, who is on the COVID-19 reserve list.
“We had a lot of players missing today… but these guys battled today,’’ Zimmer said.
The Vikings held the Chargers to just 253 yards, about half of the 500 that the Ravens had rolled up in the previous game. And Minnesota had 381 yards of offense.
“We spread the ball around,’’ said Cousins, who completed passes to eight different receivers. “We had a lot of passes to different guys.’’
But the most important balls went to Jefferson. He had four of Minnesota’s five plays of 20 yards or more, with the two longest both 27 yards.
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“I really didn’t get that many opportunities last games,’’ Jefferson said. “This game stressed giving me the ball… and definitely grateful for that.”
