Looking to Avoid 0-3: Chargers @ Vikes Desperation Bowl

The Vikings and Chargers had a combined record of 23-11 last season, with both teams earning a playoff berth before losing a close game in the opening round. The Vikings went 13-4 and won the NFC North, then lost to the Giants in heartbreaking fashion. The Chargers went 10-7 to secure a wild card spot, but they blew a 27-0 lead against the Jaguars to end their season.

When the two teams meet at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 3, the collective sense of urgency — desperation, even — will be extremely high. That's because both squads are off to frustrating 0-2 starts after coming into this season with high expectations.

The Vikings' 0-2 start has been well chronicled in this space. Despite having seven turnovers to one takeaway thus far, their point differential is just -9. This is a team that could easily be 2-0, and a team that still believes it can be great if the fumbling issue gets fixed.

The Chargers are in a similar boat. They're 0-2 with an even smaller point differential of -5 after losing 36-34 to the Dolphins in Week 1 and 27-24 in overtime to the Titans on Sunday. Brandon Staley's team took an early 11-0 lead against Tennessee but was unable to hold on.

Two games into the season, the Chargers are fourth in the league in total offense and sixth in scoring offense. They haven't turned the ball over once. It's just been a major struggle on defense, where LA ranks 30th in opponent points per game and 32nd in opponent yards per game, largely due to surrendering 36 points and 536 yards to Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and the Dolphins in the opener.

This Vikings-Chargers matchup figures to be plenty of fun. It features two explosive offenses and two struggling defenses, with intense stakes because starting 0-3 is an extremely difficult hole to climb out of.

With both teams sitting at 0-2 going into week three, Bet MGM has the Minnesota Vikings as 1.5-point underdogs for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Vikings being home underdogs against a very similar team in the Chargers is very interesting. The Chargers only have a slightly better point differential (-6 to -9) and also lost one game at home and on the road.

Both teams the Chargers faced weren’t as good as the Eagles, but were both arguably better than the Buccaneers.

The Chargers have looked good on offense, including one of the best rushing games ever in success rate against the Miami Dolphins in week one. Justin Herbert has done what he’s needed to do to win, but the defense has prevented that.

For the Vikings, it’s been about the mistakes. Seven turnovers with a -6 turnover differential has been killer to the Vikings’ chances to win in their first two weeks.

Needless to say, Sunday’s game should be a good one.

In Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Justin Jefferson put together another monstrous performance, catching 11 passes for 159 yards.

This game means the Vikings star receiver has totaled 20 receptions and 309 receiving yards through two games, with back-to-back 150-yard performances to begin the year.

Jefferson already made NFL history this week by becoming the fastest player to 5000 career receiving yards on Thursday, and now, he is in line to make even more history in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers in front of the home fans.

Since the merger in 1970, there have been six players to record back-to-back games of 150+ receiving yards to begin a season, per Stathead:

Charlie Joiner (1981)
James Lofton (1983)
Tim Brown (1997)
Brandon Marshall (2008)
Steve Smith Sr. (2011)
Justin Jefferson (2023)

However, no one has ever started a season with three consecutive games with 150 or more receiving yards. Against a Chargers defense that allowed Tyreek Hill to surpass 200 yards in Week 1, Jefferson will have a chance to do just that.

Not only has no one ever started a season with such a hot streak, but remarkably, there have only been five players in NFL history to put up three-game streaks of 150+ receiving yards at any point in a single season. Those streaks belong to:

James Lofton (1984)
Roy Green (1984)
Andre Rison (1990)
Isaac Bruce (1995)
Josh Gordon (2013)