Vikings at Chargers Depth Chart Preview 2019

After winning a snooozer against the Lions, the Vikings need to keep picking up victories. The 5-8 Chargers have nothing left to play for, but are still a dangerous team. Can the Vikings position themselves to usurp next week against the Packers with a win here?






It's been another Charger-esque season for the LA team with no fans. Lots of injuries, horrible luck, close games, and no home games. I originally had the Chargers as a top 10 team at the beginning of the season, and I still stand by that opinion. You can see that this team is loaded with talent just by gazing at the depth chart. However, despite being rated Above Average, Philip Rivers has not enjoyed an above average season this year by non-PFF metrics. Outside of last week's slaughter of the Jags, he's been rouged up by the Raiders, Chiefs, and Broncos defenses. He's already tossed 15 interceptions. Worst of all, when the game is close, the offense hasn't come through. In games decided by 1 score, the Chargers are 2-8! That does mean that they have yet to lose by more than 7 points, so don't expect the Vikings to run away with this one.

With Melvin Gordon's holdout taking up the first half of the season, the Chargers were able to unleash Austin Ekeler. The 3rd year UDFA has simply been uncoverable, running for 481 yards and 830 receiving yards, with 11 total TDs. The Vikings do have Eric Kendricks, a top-tier cover LB at this point, and he'll need to play his best this week. Gordon is back, and he's fine, but shouldn't hurt the Vikings run defense too much. The reason why is related to their O-line... it's pretty bad. Even with Okung and Tevi healthy, this squad has been simply overmatched. Feeney and Quessenberry have no strengths and struggle in all phases. Tevi is a passable run blocker, but has awful pass protection scores. Danielle Hunter should be all over him. Okung, who had a blood clot in his lung, hasn't played much and could also be overwhelmed.

Lastly, Rivers has some reliable targets to throw to, but zero depth behind them. Keenan Allen and Hunter Henry are very strong targets. Mike Williams is inconsistent and can vanish at times, but is a threat to make contested catches downfield. The WRs behind them are abysmal, even shallower than the Vikings backup WRs. Andre Patton has played 339 snaps and has caught 3 passes for 30 yards... that's possibly the worst production per snap I've ever seen.

On defense, the Chargers have a solid amount of threats to be wary of. Joey Bosa is the defense's best player and has 10.5 sacks with 15 tackles for loss. He is a complete player who is capable of taking over the game. Melvin Ingram isn't having his best season, but is still a quality player. PFF has rated all of LA's interior defenders as poor players. Not one is above average in run defense or pass rushing. I liked 1st round rookie Jerry Tillery coming out of the draft, but he's a top 10 DT in PFF's system. The LB's are nothing special. It's amazing Thomas Davis is still going at age 36, but he's a liability in coverage. 4th rounder Tranquill has near identical grades to Davis. Perryman is typically a strong defender, but he's been injured all year and is not playing up to his standards this year.

The DBs are strong, but Derwin James has only recently come off the IR. He's a special player when healthy, though it's just his 2nd year. Rayshawn Jenkins has been having a quality season with near-elite coverage and 3 interceptions. He's a liability in the run game, though. Casey Heyward is still going strong as a top #1 CB and will likely be paired with Diggs. Michael Davis has not been highly regarded and should be targeted when possible. Nickel CB Desmond King has been up and down all season, with a handful of good and a handful of bad games.


Prediction: Vikings 24, Chargers 23

I really wanted to pick the Chargers here, but three thoughts crossed my mind:

1) The crowd will be 90% Vikings fans, meaning things will not be loud for our offense
2) Zimmer's Vikings beat teams below .500 better than nobody else
3) The Chargers find new ways to lose games every week

I'm always cautious to pick the Vikings to win a road game in an outdoor stadium, but I just can't stomach picking the Chargers to win. They will find a way to hand the Vikings a victory on a silver platter late in the 4th quarter.

Any thoughts?

Oh, and any guesses on how many Chargers fans will bother to show up to the game? Possibly somewhere between 1000-3000 would be my guess.