https://chargerswire.usatoday.com/lists/chargers-vikings-recap-takeaways-justin-herbert-keenan-allen/

Alex Katson
September 24, 2023 2:34 pm PT

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.