Nobody is harder on veteran running back Aaron Jones than himself. Except maybe his mom Vurgess.

A snapshot of that came last month as the Vikings celebrated a 30-27 overtime win over the Chicago Bears.

There was a particular exchange that featured Jones seeking out offensive coordinator Wes Phillips after the game to apologize for a fumble at the goal line. As much as he appreciated the accountability from Jones in the immediate aftermath, Phillips didn’t feel the need to rehash it at the time.

The conversation happened within earshot of Vurgess, however, and she wasn’t feeling quite as forgiving.

“She was like, ‘He’s going to hear about it from me,’ ” Phillips said with a laugh. “That’s how she is. She’s great. She will tell him like it is.”

It was a similar story last weekend after the Vikings escaped with a 23-22 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Though he wound up catching a touchdown in the final minutes that proved to be the difference, Jones had another costly fumble earlier in the game that resulted in him getting benched for a prolonged stretch.

Not that Vurgess had any issue with the decision. She was actually in favor of some sort of punishment for Jones considering he has now fumbled in back-to-back-to-back games for the first time in his career.

“I was like, ‘I’ve got to learn from it,’” Jones said. “She was like, ‘You didn’t learn last week?’ ”

The fact that his mom is simultaneously his biggest fan and his biggest critic is something Jones has grown to appreciate.

He remembers his dad Alvin always being the person to hold him accountable before he passed away a few years ago due to complications from COVID-19.

“It’s what I need,” Jones said. “She has kind of taken the role without me asking her.”

As he reflected on his performance from last weekend, Jones said he was appreciative that head coach Kevin O’Connell called his number in the biggest moment of the game. Not that O’Connell even thought twice about sticking with him.

“He has been a huge part of our team,” O’Connell said. “He had a couple of tough plays there, and then when we had to have it he made the play.”

Do the Vikings plan to use Jones against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium?

“We have full confidence in him,” Phillips said. “It’s not going to affect the way we operate moving forward.”

That doesn’t mean there have been some added points of emphasis from Jones this week in practice as he tries to fix the fumbling issue. Though it’s been back to basics more than anything else, he has even tried some unorthodox methods to help himself prepare.

“I’ve been holding my kids like a football,” Jones said with a laugh. “Just getting some practice until my arms get tired.”

It also helps that he can lean on his mom whenever he needs it.

“It’s those conversations with my mom that give me clarity,” Jones said. “I’m thankful to have her.”

Briefly

On the injury report, the Vikings listed tight end Josh Oliver (wrist/ankle), kicker Will Reichard (quad) and long snapper Andrew DePaola (hand) as full participants in practice. That’s a step in the right direction as far as them being available for the Vikings this weekend.

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The Gophers signed running back Trey Berry to its 2025 recruiting class on Wednesday night.

The 5-foot-11, 205-pound product from Montgomery, Ala., fills the spot tailback Shane Marshall left when he flipped to Georgia Tech on Wednesday morning.

Berry had offers from Northwestern, Boston College, Syracuse, Liberty and others. His addition to next year’s class gives Minnesota a total of 21 signed players.

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By ADRIAN SAINZ and JONATHAN MATTISE

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people, according to the findings of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation launched after the beating death of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop in 2023.

A report released Wednesday marked the conclusion of the investigation that began six months after Nichols was kicked, punched and hit with a police baton as five officers tried to arrest him after he fled a traffic stop.

The report says that “Memphis police officers regularly violate the rights of the people they are sworn to serve.”

“The people of Memphis deserve a police department and city that protects their civil and constitutional rights, garners trust and keeps them safe,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in an emailed statement.

The city said in a letter released earlier Wednesday that it would not agree to negotiate federal oversight of its police department until it could review and challenge results of the investigation.

In the letter to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Memphis City Attorney Tannera George Gibson said the city has received a request from the DOJ to enter into an agreement that would require it to “negotiate a consent decree aimed at institutional police and emergency services.”

The Justice Department announced an investigation into the Memphis Police Department in July 2023, looking at the department’s “pattern or practice” of how it uses force and conducts stops, searches and arrests, and whether it engages in discriminatory policing. The investigation was announced six months after the January 2023 beating death of Nichols by police.

A consent decree is an agreement requiring reforms that are overseen by an independent monitor and are approved by a federal judge. The federal oversight can continue for years, and violations could result in fines paid by the city.

It remains to be seen what will happen to attempts to reach such agreements between cities and the Justice Department once President-elect Donald Trump returns to office and installs new department leadership. The Justice Department under the first Trump administration curtailed the use of consent decrees, and the Republican president-elect is expected to again radically reshape the department’s priorities around civil rights.

The city’s letter said “a legal finding supporting the contention that the City’s patterns and practices violate the Constitution requires a legal process,” which includes the city’s ability to challenge the DOJ’s methods of evaluating information and the credibility of witnesses.

“Until the City has had the opportunity to review, analyze, and challenge the specific allegations that support your forthcoming findings report, the City cannot — and will not — agree to work toward or enter into a consent decree that will likely be in place for years to come and will cost the residents of Memphis hundreds of millions of dollars,” the letter said.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter.

Police video showed officers pepper spraying Nichols and hitting him with a Taser before he ran away from a traffic stop. Five officers chased down Nichols and kicked, punched and hit him with a police baton just steps from his home as he called out for his mother. The video showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries.

Nichols died on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating. The five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — were fired, charged in state court with murder, and indicted by a federal grand jury on civil rights and witness tampering charges.

Nichols was Black, as are the former officers. His death led to national protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in the U.S., and directed intense scrutiny towards the Memphis Police Department.

The officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit, which was disbanded after Nichols’ death. The team targeted drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders, with the goal of amassing arrest numbers, while sometimes using force against unarmed people.

Martin and Mills pleaded guilty to the federal charges under deals with prosecutors. The other three officers were convicted in early October of witness tampering related to the cover-up of the beating. Bean and Smith were acquitted of civil rights charges of using excessive force and being indifferent to Nichols’ serious injuries.

Haley was acquitted of violating Nichols’ civil rights causing death, but he was convicted of two lesser charges of violating his civil rights causing bodily injury. The five men face sentencing by a federal judge in the coming months.

Martin and Mills also are expected to change their not guilty pleas in state court, according to lawyers involved in the case. Bean, Haley and Smith have also pleaded not guilty to state charges of second-degree murder. A trial in the state case has been set for April 28.

Justice Department investigators have targeted other cities with similar probes in recent years.

On Nov. 21, the department said police in New Jersey’s capital of Trenton have shown a pattern of misconduct, including using excessive force and making unlawful stops. The DOJ’s report documented arrests without legal basis, officers escalating situations with aggression and unnecessary use of pepper spray.

In June 2023, another Justice Department probe alleged that Minneapolis police systematically discriminated against racial minorities, violated constitutional rights and disregarded the safety of people in custody for years before George Floyd was killed.

In March 2023, the department found police in Louisville, Kentucky, engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights and discrimination against the Black community following an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor.

In its letter, the city of Memphis said the DOJ’s investigation “only took 17 months to complete, compared to an average of 2-3 years in almost every other instance, implying a rush to judgment.”

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.