Well, folks, they did it. The Chargers won a football game. It was hardly comfortable, of course, because that’s Chargers football. But they did, crucially, win the game.
Here’s what to take away from a whirlwind game.
Keenan Allen is eternal
What a day to have a career-best game for Keenan Allen. The receiver was targeted a whopping twenty times on Sunday as Herbert slung the ball 47 times overall. He turned those targets into a franchise record 18 receptions for a career-best 215 yards, converting first down after first down to keep the Chargers offense moving.
Oh yeah, and he had a passing touchdown.
Allen became only the second player in NFL history to have 10+ receptions, 100 or more yards, and a passing touchdown of 40+ yards on Sunday. The only other man to do that?
Jerry Rice.
Allen has been the subject of trade and cut rumors because of the impending cap situation LA faces after this season, but he continues to prove that he’s the heart of the Chargers’ passing offense. At this point, it would be a shock to see him in any other uniform.
Run game engine
This team needs Austin Ekeler back as soon as possible. After a thundering performance on the ground in Week 1 with Ekeler healthy, the rushing attack has wilted in the last two weeks. Last week was excusable, with one of the best defensive lines in football lining up in Tennessee. But Minnesota was the worst rushing defense in the league entering Sunday’s game, fresh off giving up a 175-yard performance to Eagles injury fill-in D’Andre Swift.
However, Joshua Kelley took 11 carries for just 12 yards on Sunday, with a long of 4 yards. Isaiah Spiller was the only other running back to log a carry, taking two totes for just 7 yards. It was a pass-heavy game plan built to attack a weaker Vikings secondary, for certain. Still, it was also partially due to the run game not generating positive momentum.
It’s clear at this point: Justin Herbert has to carry the offense even more than he already does until Ekeler returns.
Pump the brakes on the run defense
Minnesota entered the Chargers game with the fewest rush yards and attempts in the NFL and had not produced a run of 10 or more yards all year, the only team not to accomplish such a feat.
Well, the Chargers run defense can still cure all of those ailments.
Alexander Mattison took 20 carries for 93 yards on Sunday, including runs of 13, 15, 14, and 10. Ty Chandler added another run of 12 yards to give the Vikings five explosive run plays on the day. Overall, the Chargers allowed 5.4 yards a carry, regressing back to their usual ways under Brandon Staley.
This would all be fine if LA had put a cap on the passing offense the way their philosophy dictates they do. And for a while, they did – Justin Jefferson was having a relatively quiet game by his standards, rookie Jordan Addison hadn’t beat them deep, and the pass rush was affecting Kirk Cousins. Then, the Chargers allowed a 52-yard touchdown to Jefferson and five other explosive pass plays on the day to bring them to a total of ten.
The defense did hold at the end of the game, and they deserve credit for doing so. But their struggles with the big play continue to be a problem and should continue to be monitored.
Luckier than good
Sometimes, all you need to do to win a game is to get lucky. The Chargers do not know this because they are one of the unluckiest teams in football and have been for all of eternity.
However, the Vikings are one of maybe two or three teams in the history of the universe that are even more snakebitten than the Chargers. That worked in LA’s favor on Sunday in a few different spots.
Justin Herbert should have thrown his first interception of the season in this game. Instead, it bounced off Vikings defensive back Akayleb Evans’ hands and landed in the arms of Josh Palmer for a 30-yard touchdown to give the Chargers the lead. Herbert was also strip-sacked by Danielle Hunter but managed to fall on the ball, while Vikings tight end TJ Hockenson had a ball ripped out of his hands by Alohi Gilman for a Minnesota fumble.
On the last drive of the game, Kirk Cousins had three throws that likely should have been caught for touchdowns. The first was a wheel route to KJ Osborn, who had the ball clatter off both hands. Had he caught it, he likely would have beaten the Chargers defender to the end zone. The second was tipped by Asante Samuel Jr. but still landed in the hands of Addison, who was unable to complete the catch for the go-ahead score. The last was the final offensive play of the game for Minnesota – Cousins targeted Hockenson in the end zone, but the ball bounced off his hands, off JT Woods’ hands, and dropped into the arms of Kenneth Murray for the game-sealing interception.
As they say: we take those.
