EAGAN, Minn. -- Justin Jefferson wasn't where he was supposed to be.

The Minnesota Vikings were facing a third down late in their Dec. 22 game in Seattle, down by four points at their 39-yard line. Jefferson had split out on the far left side of the team's formation, prepared to run a route that would take him toward the middle of the field, an area he feasted on during his fifth NFL season.

And then the Jefferson magic happened, the kind of adjustment only the best receivers can pull off. 

Jefferson got such a good break off the line against cornerback Riq Woolen that safety Julian Love, positioned to help Woolen cover him, reacted by turning his hips inside, which left the deep part of the sideline open. Jefferson subtly changed directions and turned around to see if quarterback Sam Darnold had followed the adjustment.

Darnold indeed saw it develop and fired a pass toward the goal line. Jefferson whipped toward the sideline, pulled in the ball and scored the winning touchdown in the Vikings' 27-24 victory. 

"Not really a secret to it or a formula to it," Jefferson said afterward, shrugging his shoulders. "It's all about going out there, making plays and executing."

There was a lot more to it, of course, from Darnold's awareness to coach Kevin O'Connell's playcalling and scheme. But that moment, which O'Connell said at the time might have been the Vikings' most important play of the season, was key as Minnesota works to answer an essential team-building question: Can a receiver lead a team to a Super Bowl?

There are multiple examples of a running back carrying a team through the regular season and the playoffs. Look no further than how Saquon Barkley elevated the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024 on their way to winning Super Bowl LIX. But there isn't much precedent for pass catchers. Of the 28 Hall of Fame wide receivers who won a Super Bowl, only three of them did it without a Hall of Fame quarterback, most recently Washington's Art Monk in 1991.

But the Vikings believed Jefferson was unique when they made him the NFL's highest-paid non-quarterback in 2024 with a four-year, $140 million contract extension. He responded with a unanimous All-Pro season, catching 103 passes for 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns, a feat that coincided with a quarterback transition from Kirk Cousins to Darnold and J.J. McCarthy, a pair of lower paid and less accomplished passers on whose performance Jefferson's success would seem to depend.

But what if the roles are reversed in Minnesota? What if this receiver is so quarterback-friendly he could elevate the play around him to a championship level?

"At the end of the day," general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said last summer, "when you study teams that have gotten to the NFC or AFC Championship Game, or the Super Bowl level, there's just a certain amount of talent that it requires. How you get to the answer can be a lot of different things."

IN FIVE NFL seasons, primarily with Darnold and Cousins as his quarterbacks, Jefferson has made two playoff appearances. The Vikings are 0-2 in those games. But Jefferson, 25, has been so consistently productive during that time that few realize the gravity of his early-career accomplishments: He is the only player in NFL history to have more than one 1,500-yard season before the age of 26. He has three.

As wild as it might sound, the 2024 campaign was a slog at times, as Jefferson spent training camp familiarizing himself with Darnold and McCarthy, who likely would have gotten on the field at some point had he not suffered a meniscus injury in his right knee that sidelined him for the season. The Vikings attempted the second-fewest passes in a season during Jefferson's career (548, 18th the NFL), and he went without a touchdown reception in more consecutive games (six) than ever before.

There were multiple games in which Darnold did not target Jefferson until the second quarter, and there was one -- Week 10 in Jacksonville -- when he threw three interceptions while trying to force the ball Jefferson's way. But Jefferson accomplished his first goal for 2024, playing in all 17 games while participating in a career-high 93.5% of the offense's snaps after a right hamstring tear cost him seven games in 2023.

"That was definitely something that I wanted to do coming off of last year," Jefferson said. "One, was being healthy throughout the whole entire year. And two, was just bouncing back from that previous year. ... 'What could have been' was always going through my mind after [2023], but I wanted to come back and have another great season and win games."

Jefferson's full season coincided with a career year from Darnold, who threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns while elevating from the bottom of the NFL's QBR rankings in his previous five campaigns to No. 14 in 2024. O'Connell's scheme and playcalling get a significant portion of the credit, in addition to Darnold's own development. But it's difficult to ignore the role Jefferson played, on the passes he caught and how his presence created opportunities for others.

Darnold's best segment of the season -- he threw 18 touchdowns and two interceptions between Weeks 11 and 17 -- came after receiver Jordan Addison (ankle) and tight end T.J. Hockenson (knee) returned to full health. During that period, Darnold targeted Addison nearly as many times (65) as Jefferson (75). Hockenson, meanwhile, ranked third on the team in targets (48) after Week 10.

The Vikings must decide whether that means Jefferson cannot elevate their offense on his own or they need their best supplementary players in place to take advantage of his presence.

"At the end of the day," Adofo-Mensah said, "you want to pay premier players who can produce while making other people's jobs easier. That can come a lot of different ways, at a lot of different positions."

A subtle example of making life easier for his teammates came in Week 17 against the Green Bay Packers. On a first-down play in the third quarter, Jefferson aligned on the far side of the formation next to Addison, who was in the slot. At the snap, Jefferson ran toward the middle of the field, carrying two Packers defenders with him. Addison then executed a double move that O'Connell had inserted into the playbook to take advantage of defenders who would be focused on Jefferson. 

Addison scored on an 18-yard pass play.

THERE ARE 14 wide receivers enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who also won at least one Super Bowl. Two did so without a Hall of Fame quarterback. Cliff Branch did it twice with Jim Plunkett, while Monk accomplished it with Mark Rypien and Doug Williams.

The Vikings have high hopes for McCarthy, the No. 10 pick of the 2023 draft, and Darnold's season at age 27 has pumped new life into his career. But history's clear trend drives a steep obstacle into the hope that Jefferson -- or any receiver -- can elevate his team to a championship level.

In discussing that challenge, Vikings receivers coach Keenan McCardell has referenced a nickname a previous Vikings assistant applied to Jefferson: "Waffle House 18." The best way to raise a quarterback's performance level is to be -- like Waffle House -- "open all the time," McCardell said.

"Once a quarterback has been with him in practice for a while," McCardell added, "it'll be easy for him to say, 'Oh, OK. I can see how much separation he needs, or doesn't need, to get for me to consider him open.' It makes for an easier throw."

By definition, however, a receiver's ability to make plays or create them for others is tied to the quarterback's aptitude. It is also susceptible to extreme defensive approaches, be it exotic coverages or physical manhandling that challenges officials who try to balance throwing flags with maintaining the flow of a game.

Jefferson, for example, grew deeply frustrated with the Detroit Lions' coverage in Week 18, which, combined with a shaky game from Darnold, left him with three catches for 54 yards in a 31-9 loss.

"Around the league, guys who play a lot of man [coverage] like that, they teach them to grab," Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. "The good ones are pretty crafty about it, and then when they do get the call, all of them throw their hands up and say, 'What? No way.' I think it's just kind of human nature, too. The refs don't want to be throwing flags every play. And so you're not going to get all those calls, and you just have to be mature enough to work through and keep playing football.

"I don't think he lets it get to him too much. Justin is an ultimate competitor. There is going to be frustration from a guy, like his caliber of player, if he's not getting the football and affecting the game in a way he knows he can. I think that's totally natural and expected from our end."

More significant is the fact that Jefferson is headed toward playing with at least his fifth -- and possibly sixth -- different quarterback since the start of the 2023 season. He caught passes from Cousins, Joshua Dobbs, Nick Mullens, Jaren Hall and Darnold in 27 games during that period, and the Vikings' 2025 starter remains undetermined.

The Vikings could bring back Darnold, turn the keys over to McCarthy or sign a different veteran to play until McCarthy is ready. Jefferson, however, has repeatedly declined to weigh in on the QB carousel despite the lack of continuity.

"It doesn't really matter to me," he said the day after the Vikings' wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams. "It's not really something that I'm making a big deal about. Whoever they decide to either bring back or to have in this locker room, we've got to make it work, and we've got to do whatever it takes to get a Super Bowl."

If Jefferson can get it done, and if he can lead the Vikings to a championship without a quarterback who goes down as an all-time great, he will have achieved the rarest of feats. 

Fortunately for the Vikings, he has the right mindset.

In January, Jefferson sat down for an interview with Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner. The first question: "What makes Justin Jefferson one of one?"

Jefferson smiled for a moment. His initial response was telling.

"I mean, what doesn't make Justin Jefferson one of one?"