{"id":328440,"date":"2025-10-24T06:20:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T06:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/328440\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T06:20:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T06:20:16","slug":"what-we-learned-from-los-angeles-37-10-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/328440\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Learned from Los Angeles’ 37-10 win"},"content":{"rendered":"

FULL BOX SCORE<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Herbert, Chargers offense got back on track. <\/strong>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffJustin Herbert<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff threw for a career-high 420 yards on Sunday, but it came in a loss to the Colts, throwing two picks after falling behind, 21-0. Four days later, Herbert turned in a cleaner performance \u2013 even with a second-half pick \u2013 in a much-needed victory over the Vikings. They\u2019d lost two straight at home coming in, not looking like the team that stormed out to a 3-0 start. Once again, Herbert carried a major share of the load, throwing three touchdowns and dicing up the Vikings with his legs, but he had help. \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffKimani Vidal<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff had a bounce-back game, with a TD and some strong second-half running. Herbert had a third-quarter throw tipped and intercepted deep in Chargers territory, but those were some of the cleaner pockets he\u2019s had in a month, with the much-awaited return of \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffJoe Alt<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff. Alt wasn\u2019t perfect but was a major upgrade over his replacements the past three games. On Sunday, Herbert was sacked three times and hit 15 times. On Thursday, he was sacked only once and hit seven times. That\u2019s better.<\/li>\n
  2. Wentz, shorthanded Vikings O-line struggled all night.<\/strong> \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffCarson Wentz<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff started his fifth straight game for the Vikings, and the Law of Diminishing Returns has definitely kicked in. It was hardly all on Wentz, who was playing with a left shoulder injury, and once again he was under fire all game (five sacks) behind an offensive line that didn\u2019t have \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffBrian O’Neill<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff and that lost \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffChristian Darrisaw<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff to injury mid-game. Wentz appeared to aggravate that arm while trying to bat down his own batted pass in the second quarter. The Vikings’ one TD came after a Justin Herbert pick in the red zone and only happened after the Vikings took points off the board following a 12-men penalty. \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffJustin Jefferson<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff was doing work early, but he was the only one. In spite of the return of \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffAaron Jones<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff, the run game went to sleep early, and Wentz\u2019s overthrow pick early in the fourth put a nail in the coffin. \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffJ.J. McCarthy<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff, who was the emergency QB Thursday, could return a week from Sunday at Detroit, but are the Vikings anxious to expose him to relentless heat?<\/li>\n
  3. Gadsden stacks back-to-back strong showings<\/strong>. Rookie tight end \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffOronde Gadsden II<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff has hit Southern California like an earthquake the past four days. Following his seven-catch, 164-yard breakout game on Sunday, Vidal had five more grabs for 77 yards and his second TD in as many weeks. The son of the former Dolphins receiver of the same name has had a similar rookie-year ascent as his father, continuing to stack impressive showings and appearing more like a fifth-round steal by the day. All of Gadsden\u2019s damage came in the first half on Thursday, but it was clear the Chargers were making a concerted effort to get him the ball, with three catches on the opening drive, including a pretty TD grab. Gadsden also hauled in a 40-yarder later to set up another score. You can bet the Chargers are going to continue to feed the rookie, who has now caught 27 passes on 33 targets and is averaging 14.3 yards per catch this season.<\/li>\n
  4. Another slow start for Vikings compounds defensive issues. <\/strong>The Vikings are a team built to get leads and turn their pass rushers loose. The problem? Outside of a laugher over the Bengals, the Vikings have suffered from slow starts all season, getting outscored, 41-13, in the first quarters of the other six games, including Thursday, which couldn\u2019t have started much worse. The Vikings had four penalties, 16 yards of offense and a dropped pick-six on defense, finding themselves in a 14-0 hole 17 minutes into the game. The offense can\u2019t escape blame, but what has happened to Brian Flores\u2019 defense? This was supposed to be the backbone of the team this season, the unit that could help shepherd McCarthy and the offense along while remaining in contention. That hasn\u2019t happened at all. The Chargers rang up 419 yards and seven scoring drives in nine possessions. The pressure cooled off fast, the blitzes weren\u2019t getting home and there were far too many coverage busts and missed tackles to stop anyone.<\/li>\n
  5. Chargers\u2019 defense delivered much-needed performance.<\/strong> Jesse Minter\u2019s defense came out of the gates strong to start this season, seemingly backing up its 2024 success, but it had been a trainwreck defensively the three games prior to Thursday. So it was highly encouraging to see such a dominant performance \u2013 even against a backup QB and beat-up offensive line. \ufeff\ufeffKhalil Mack<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff and \ufeff\ufeffTuli Tuipulotu<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff heated up the edges, and \ufeff\ufeffJustin Eboigbe<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff had two first-half sacks after a tough game Sunday. The big news Thursday night was that \ufeff\ufeffDerwin James<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff (who\u2019d played every defensive snap this season to that point) was ruled out with an ankle injury, and \ufeff\ufeffTony Jefferson<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff got hurt and played sparingly, thrusting rookie \ufeff\ufeffR.J. Mickens<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff into the game. After Mickens had a fumble return for TD called back, he picked off Carson Wentz for his first NFL interception. He\u2019s now only 10 behind his dad, Ray Mickens, who played 10 years in the league, mostly with the Jets. The Chargers\u2019 special teams didn\u2019t do them any favors, but the defense stood tall in a dominant showing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Next Gen Stats Insight for Vikings-Chargers<\/a> (via NFL Pro): <\/strong>Justin Herbert finished 13 of 15 for 162 yards, two touchdowns and one interception against the Vikings’ blitz, his fourth-most yards against the blitz in his career. The last time Herbert faced the Vikings (Week 3, 2023), he was 32 of 38 for 301 yards and three TDs against the blitz.<\/p>\n

    NFL Research:<\/strong> Justin Jefferson joined Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss (8,375 yards) and Torry Holt (8,156) as the only players with at least 8,000 receiving yards in their first six seasons in NFL history. Jefferson also joined Moss and Hall of Famer Cris Carter as the only Vikings with 8,000 or more receiving yards in their careers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FULL BOX SCORE Herbert, Chargers offense got back on track. \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffJustin Herbert\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff threw for a career-high 420 yards…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":328441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[529,43574,1582,276,2961,224,8986,5337,8812,530,11578,33503],"class_list":{"0":"post-328440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-analysis","9":"tag-around-the-nfl","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-minnesota-vikings","17":"tag-no-minute","18":"tag-regular-season","19":"tag-what-we-learned"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115427699795892912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}