Justin Jefferson’s once positive, seemingly always happy exterior has faded over the past handful of weeks as the Vikings have slumped to an abysmal 4-8 record.

The star receiver has shown frustration in several games this season, most recently with cameras showing him sitting by himself with a towel over his head during a 26-0 loss at Seattle, and he declined to talk to the media after the game.

All of the outward negativity from Jefferson has led fans to worry that a split may be coming in the offseason, a concerning believe that ESPN’s Adam Schefter helped fuel on Monday.

When asked about the unhappiness of his star receiver, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell didn’t shy away from the obvious dissatisfaction, saying, “Yeah, he obviously wants to win football games.”

“As I’ve mentioned before, he’s as competitive as anybody I’ve ever been around. He’s a leader on our team. Nobody is accepting any sort of the outcomes we’re facing right now. Regardless of the reason, regardless of the current state of where we’re at, nobody’s accepting that, and Justin will never be asked to accept that,” O’Connell added.

However dissatisfied he may be, Jefferson, according to O’Connell, remains a consummate professional as the team looks to turn around their fortunes during a miserable season.

“He always, like he did today, he shows up with energy and he’s going to have an impact on our organization at a really high level,” O’Connell said.

The four-time Pro Bowl receiver is on pace for 106 catches for just over 1,300 yards this season. Those would represent the lowest numbers of his career, outside of his injury-shortened 2023 season. The downturn in production can largely be placed on the shoulders of the lackluster play Minnesota has gotten from the trio of quarterbacks it has used this season.

“We’ve got to find ways to allow players to, like Justin and Jordan (Addison), to have a chance to impact the game. And then, when they get those chances, we know that good things will happen,” said O’Connell. “But it takes much more than just calling plays for them or having sequences in the game where they can have a high level of impact, because this game requires 10 other guys to operate at a standard to allow that to happen. That’s what we got to strive to have happen and Justin plays a huge role in that as one of our captains.”

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