Well that was terrible. There have been some good Thursday games this year, led by last week's Rodgers-Flacco instant classic, but this was a reminder that a lot of these games are just awful. Football on three days rest doesn't always work out.
My major takeaway is that prior to this game I was really overrating the Vikings. How was this the same team that moved the ball all day in a narrow loss to the Eagles last week? What does the Chargers blowout last night say about Philadelphia, and by extension the entire NFC? Or maybe it was just one bad game (after all, the Giants and Colts both clobbered Los Angeles not too long ago). Anyway, let's get into it.
QUARTERBACKS
True, Minnesota's banged-up line couldn't protect Carson Wentz last night. It's not all on him, the 5 sacks and 22 other times he was knocked to the ground. (I'm exaggerating, but he attempted 27 passes, so it was close to that number.) But if this game showed nothing else it's that Kevin O'Connell is absolutely going to be putting J.J. McCarthy back in the lineup once he's fully recovered. McCarthy has looked pretty bad in the lineup, but he simply can't be worse than what we saw from Wentz.
Wentz has some physical talent. He can throw a nice pass, which helped Justin Jefferson have a serviceable game. And of course he was playing with an injured shoulder and maybe also an injured hand last night, which we were constantly reminded of by Wentz doubling over in pain and clutching his arm and shoulder after every other play. But the guy seems to process everything absurdly slow, failing to get rid of the ball in a reasonable amount of time. The sequence before the half was excruciating, with Minnesota getting to midfield on its first play and then burning all three timeouts while Wentz got blown up for sacks just before a missed field goal. Bad football.
Justin Herbert was saved from a Pick Six on the Chargers' opening drive with an off-target throw/poor route; the play was correctly overturned by replay. Fortunate; without that reversal the Chargers would have fallen behind 7-0 before proceeding to blow Minnesota out. Herbert went on to play great, with lots of big throws (3 TDs) and well-timed runs (62 yards). I know the rest of the team also ran for 145 yards, but most of that success was due to what Herbert was doing. I drafted him as a backup to Joe Burrow in a league and he's absolutely saved my team. I wish I'd selected him elsewhere, it would not have been difficult.
RUNNING BACKS
Aaron Jones returned and looked healthy enough. That's right, we can't blame injury on one of the sorriest team rushing performances of the year, with Jones carrying 5 times for 15 yards and Jordan Mason 4 for 3. Yes Zavier Scott carried 2 for 16, but he's basically a wide receiver (and is at 3.3 on the season, he's not saving this ground game). The Chargers came into this game allowing an average of 140 yards and nearly 2 TDs per game in their last five; at least 118 and a touchdown on the ground in all of them. Can only assume the Chargers said, Let's focus on the run, Wentz won't be beating us, and were right.
Kimani Vidal helped me win a bet by shattering his over-under. He's now rushed for over 100 yards twice in three games, performing at the level some were anticipating when he was a popular sleeper in 2024 drafts. I'm going to caution against getting too excited since one opponent was the actual worst run defense in the league (Miami) and the Vikings were 18th entering last night's game and clearly aren't even that good. But give Vidal credit for making the most of his opportunity, and maybe it keeps the Chargers from trading for another running back before the deadline, getting by with Vidal until Omarion Hampton returns. Minnesota held journeyman Jaret Patterson to a lesser game (11 for 30) as the No. 2, but nothing impressive about that. At least we know Patterson won't be pushing to start here.
WIDE RECEIVERS
With Ladd McConkey, we're reminded that making snap judgments on depth charts can occasionally be costly. McConkey after a few games looked like LA's 3rd-best wide receiver, and we all sort of forgot about how good he was a year ago. Congrats if you bought low somewhere. Six for 88 and a touchdown last night, and that was with a comical drop of a 20-yard pass that he seemed to lose in the lights or something. Keenan Allen was a quiet 4 for 44, which was probably expected entering the season, while playing just 25 percent of the snaps. No injury was reported so maybe they just didn't want him on the field while going run-heavy after halftime. Quentin Johnston played over half the snaps -- less than Tre Harris -- without even being targeted.
I don't want to make too many broad statements; short week, lopsided game, Johnston coming off a hamstring injury. But it looks hard to trust Allen or Johnston at the moment, while McConkey is back in the clear No. 1 spot in the passing game.
Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison salvaged things for those of us who started them, with Jefferson catching 7 for 74 and Addison just 3 for 26 but with a short touchdown. If you watched Wentz play last night you know you're fortunate to get that. Since McCarthy didn't look very good in his games at the beginning of the year, a case can be made for quietly shopping these wide receivers to somebody who thinks they'll be good the second half of the season. It's hard to see it happening with the quarterbacks Minnesota has available, unless undrafted Max Brosmer is the next Tony Romo or Kurt Warner.
TIGHT ENDS
Sometimes we overrate youngsters based on being the son of a former NFL player, as those of us who had Brenden Rice on our dynasty teams last summer are aware. That didn't happen with Oronde Gadsden II, who I'm willing to say I missed on and it seems like I wasn't alone. Gadsden has now had three strong games in a row, with last night's 5 for 77 with a touchdown being particularly noteworthy since it was entirely in the first half -- imagine if the Chargers had needed to throw it after the break. Minnesota had no ability to stick with him, and it seems like he's going to continue to be one of the top 2 targets in this passing game. The guy is an athlete and maybe I'm exaggerating but we had Gadsden 9th in the latest ReDrafter and glancing it I don't think that's high enough.
T.J. Hockenson is just 28 years old. But I think it's an old 28, with Hockenson maybe never fully putting that torn ACL behind him. Not sure how else to read him averaging just 8.2 yards per catch and not getting any separation, ever. Minnesota has a great pair of wideouts but not a lot else in the passing game these days.
MISCELLANEOUS
Back to my original premise. Minnesota was close with the Eagles last week, and the Eagles are presumably one of the NFC's best teams. But maybe it's the Lions and ...Seahawks? ... who are really good, and with Eagles-Packers-Rams-Bucs all a step back. I don't know. Just one game, but I came out of it thinking more highly of the AFC than the NFC. I could be wrong.
It's hard to watch any of last night's game and think the Vikings are going to be a factor in the NFC playoff hunt. They're a last-place team who's beaten Chicago (should have lost that one, Bears just choked it away), Cincinnati (Jake Browning) and Cleveland. They're going to be destroyed by the Lions next week and will lose both Green Bay games. They may as well give McCarthy a half season to hopefully develop, because they're not going anywhere regardless.
The Chargers have maybe righted the ship some. Offense looked good last night, while their defense had its best game of the season (I don't think we need to count them shutting down Las Vegas in Week 2). The AFC West is tough, but the Chargers are going to be in it.
And I'm going to be lowering expectations for Thursday football going forward.