Everyone seems to think the Los Angeles Chargers are better than the Minnesota Vikings. Look no further than the power rankings around the internet. You literally have to go our Bring Me The Sports rankings to find the Vikings ranked ahead of the Chargers.
- NFL.com: Chargers 16th, Vikings 22nd
- Pro Football Focus: Chargers 13th, Vikings 17th
- Pro Football Talk: Chargers 22nd, Vikings 25th
- CBS Sports: Chargers 22nd, Vikings 26th
- ESPN: Chargers 17th, Vikings 25th
- Sports Illustrated: Chargers 12th, Vikings 29th
- Bring Me The Sports: Chargers 23rd, Vikings 21st
The craziest of the bunch is from our buddies at Sports Illustrated, with staff writer Conor Orr putting the Chargers 12th and the Vikings 29th and saying the Vikings would be the “second or third-worst team in football” without Justin Jefferson. Well they have Justin Jefferson and he still ranks them as the fourth worst team in football.
“Kirk Cousins’s extremely misleading stat line covers up the chilling reality of this team: they cannot run or stop the run. They are last in the NFL in rushing yards, and third-to-last in preventing rushing yards from happening,” Orr wrote.
That’s true but it’s based solely on the Eagles rushing for 259 yards last Thursday. One game does not fully explain a team’s ability. If that were the case, everyone should be panicking about the Chargers’ pass defense because they’ve allowed an NFL high 666 yards through two games, though Orr says nothing of that in his opinion of LAC.
“I would find it hard to unearth a good football mind who thinks this is a bad team, or even a particularly poorly coached team,” Orr wrote of the Chargers. “Circumstantially, that sentiment is not reflected in the win column yet, but this is a group capable of going on a tear (which they will need to do).”
Both teams are 0-2 and on the brink of disaster with a loss Sunday in Minneapolis. The metrics, however, suggest the Vikings are better than the Chargers. Let’s go to Pro Football Focus for the early data…
- Overall rating: Vikings 72.4, Chargers 66.9
- Offensive rating: Vikings 73.4, Chargers 72.6
- Defensive rating: Vikings 63.0, Chargers 50.0
The Chargers’ defensive rating from PFF (50.0) is the second worst in the NFL, which is a product of an abysmal 44.4 pass defense rating. The Vikings own an 80.9 pass defense rating, tied for fourth best in the NFL.
Minnesota’s rush defense rating (47.8) is actually better than the Chargers’ pass defense rating (44.4).
So which defense has a better chance on Sunday: Minnesota’s rush defense against the Chargers, who oh by the way might not have star running back Austin Ekeler (ankle), or the Chargers’ pass defense against the high-powered Vikings attack featuring Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson?
That’s an easy answer and it’s not the Chargers.
