Vikings news: Darnold in 35-TD club, Jefferson nearing history, Jones eyeing career mark

For the second time this season, the Minnesota Vikings opened up a big lead on the Green Bay Packers this past Sunday and were seemingly set to cruise to an easy victory, only to watch their longtime rivals put together a second-half surge to make things competitive.

But just as Kevin O'Connell & Co. survived the late scare back in Week 4 to take a 31-29 victory, they did so yet again in Week 17 with another two-point victory, this time by a score of 27-25.

With the victory, Minnesota improved to 14-2 for the year and set up a winner-take-all showdown in Week 18 with the Detroit Lions that will decide both the NFC North and the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC heading into the postseason.

The Lions, of course, got to 14-2 themselves with a 40-34 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.

With 28 combined wins between the two teams, this highly anticipated Vikings-Lions showdown, which the NFL predictably flexed into the Sunday Night Football slot, will feature the most victories of any regular-season game in history.

And speaking of history, the Vikings' trio of offensive stars — Sam Darnold, Justin Jefferson, and Aaron Jones — could all very well make some in this Week 18 battle with Detroit, whether it be a personal record, a franchise record, or even an NFL record.

Sam Darnold made some Vikings history against the Packers and could make more against the Lions

Sam Darnold continued to give the Minnesota front office a lot to think about this offseason with yet another dynamic performance against Green Bay, connecting on 33 of 43 pass attempts for a career-high 377 yards with three touchdowns.

With those three passing TDs, the soon-to-be free agent now has a career-best 35 for his career. As such, he set a new Vikings record for the most by a quarterback in his first year with the franchise, surpassing the 33 thrown by Brett Favre in 2009.

Darnold's 35 are also the fourth-most of any quarterback in league history in his first year with a new team, trailing only Matthew Stafford (41, 2021), Tom Brady (40, 2020), and Peyton Manning (37, 2012).

Furthermore, the 35 are tied for the second-most in Vikings history in a single season. Kirk Cousins also tossed 35 in 2020. If Darnold can throw four more on Sunday night against the Lions, he'd tie the franchise record of 39, which was set by Daunte Culpepper in 2004.

Justin Jefferson needs just 21 yards against Detroit to set yet another NFL record

While Justin Jefferson wasn't the recipient of any of Darnold's three touchdown passes against the Packers, the three-time Pro Bowler recorded a game-best eight passes for a game-high 92 yards.

With that stat line, Jefferson now has exactly 100 receptions for the year, good for the seventh-most in the NFL, and has amassed 1,479 receiving yards, good for second in the league behind only former LSU teammate Ja'Marr Chase (1,612).

Jefferson has now reached 100 catches in all five seasons of his career. And with 21 yards against Detroit this Sunday, he'll also hit the 1,500-yard mark for the third time. If that happens, he'll become only the fifth player ever with three 100-catch, 1,500-yard campaigns, joining Marvin Harrison Sr., Andre Johnson, Julio Jones, and Antonio Brown.

Jefferson would be the first to accomplish the feat in his first five seasons.

Aaron Jones needs 29 rushing yards to set a new personal best

On his third carry during Sunday's win over the Packers, Aaron Jones became just the 69th player in NFL history to reach 7,000 rushing yards, ultimately ending his day with 7,033 after racking up 47 yards on 12 carries against his former team.

Now with 1,093 rushing yards on the year, the eighth-year veteran needs just 29 yards against Detroit to surpass the career-high 1,121 he recorded with Green Bay in 2022.

Furthermore, as Jones has 1,471 total yards from scrimmage, the 11th-most in the league this season, he needs just 88 against the Lions to surpass the career-high 1,558 he had in his third season with the Packers in 2019.