Vikings vs Chargers: The Good The Bad & The Ugly

What in the world did we just see? We saw a crazy afternoon of football that's for sure.

We saw the Vikings march down the field almost effortlessly on the first drive and then had a tough time scoring touchdowns after that.

We saw a Charger team completely implode and turn the ball over a total of SEVEN times in the game.

We saw a game where Adam Thielen finally played, but you couldn't really tell he was on the field. (He did play didn't he?)

We saw a stadium with so much purple that it seemed like a home game.

We saw a game where the Vikings won 39-10 but generated less offensive yards than the opposition.

We saw a very strange game...and that means a strange edition of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

THE GOOD:

The Defense: They played well in both run defense and forcing turnovers. They held the Chargers to 62 rushing yards. That's really good given the combo of Gordon and Ekeler. And the seven turnovers were the most the Chargers have had in almost 20 years. It was the points off those turnovers that is the concern. More on that coming up.

Mike Boone: Alexander Mattison was inactive to start the game. Then Dalvin Cook got hurt early in the 2nd half. So Mike Boone became the next man up and took full advantage of it. He was fast, he was aggressive, he was playing like his football career was on the line. He finished the game with 56 yards and 2 touchdowns on 13 carries.

Special Teams: Britton Colquitt only punted twice and they were both great. They averaged 51.5 yards and both were inside the 20 yard line. One was downed on the Chargers 4 yard line. The special teams unit also tipped a Chargers punt which led to the Vikings starting a drive at the Chargers 41 (they turned that into another field goal).

THE BAD:

First Half Offense: It started with an impressive first drive which resulted in a well executed fake pitch, touchdown pass to Irv Smith. But the Vikings went into the half with a 19-10 lead and almost the same stats as the Chargers except for the turnover stat (3 for LA). Oh and one of those first half touchdowns was a defensive fumble return.

Passing Defense: The weakness of this defense is what continues to make me worried. If it wasn't for all the Chargers turnovers, the Vikings could have easily lost this game. Many times Rivers and company drove down field and passing all over the place. They also converted to many 3rd and long's into first downs. Thankfully they couldn't help but want to keep giving the Vikings the ball.

Dalvin Cook Injury: Given Cook's past injury history, I've been holding my breath week after week. As the season went on, I started to feel like maybe he would get through it healthy. Then last week, he suffered a minor injury and did not return. But it was all good and he was back this week. Then he got hurt again and did not return. As of now, the severity of the injury is unknown and Coach Zimmer says this is a new injury and not related to the previous one. Hopefully it's nothing serious and he recovers quickly.

THE UGLY:

Converting Turnovers Into Touchdowns: It's really hard to believe that the Chargers actually turned the ball over SEVEN times. It's also hard to believe that the Vikings only got 20 points off those turnovers. And many of those TO's came deep inside Charger territory. That's 2.8 points per turnover...and that is ugly.

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With a 39-10 win, I should be really happy but I'm just kind of happy. Sure, they got a win that they needed but with all those turnovers, it almost feels like the Vikings were gifted a win. Thankfully the Rams lost so that helps the playoff picture. The Vikings return home next Monday night to take on the Packers.
 
You can hear David Black weekday mornings with ‘David & Alli In The Morning’ on 96.7 The River, Central Minnesota’s Greatest Hits