It was an ugly October 23 night for the Minnesota Vikings as they fell 37-10 to the Los Angeles Chargers on “Thursday Night Football” at SoFi Stadium.
This game has no positives for Minnesota, as they will need to learn what went wrong and then put the lopsided loss behind them. After being 3-2 at one point in the 2025 NFL season, the Vikings have lost two straight games to fall to 3-4.
Following the loss to Los Angeles, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell was straightforward about the outcome, admitting the Chargers outperformed his team in every area.
“We got outplayed,” O’Connell said (h/t Pro Football Talk). “We got outcoached; we did not — there are no excuses. Injuries, short week, whatever it is, that is not in any way, shape, or form our standard of what we want to put on the field, and we’ve got — as I told our team — we’ve got an opportunity in front of us where we need to own this.
“This is not a bury the tape kind of time for our organization. This is a ‘watch it, view it, own it’. Every coach, every player. And it starts with me. I did not have our team prepared to play.”
The Vikings Will Look to Bounce Back
Minnesota have a few extra days to prepare for Week 9 against the Detroit Lions. While it will be a challenging task against the NFC North rival, O’Connell has faith in his team to bounce back as they look to climb back to .500 and keep themselves in the NFC playoff picture.
“I believe in our players, wholeheartedly,” O’Connell said. “I believe in every opportunity we have, we’re gonna go out there and put our best foot forward, both on the practice field and every opportunity we have as a team; I think we’ll be able to get, you know, healthy in some spots here that, you know, are critical for our ability to have success.
“But once again, injuries and any other excuse if you go looking for them you’ll find them. We will not be doing that. We’re going to meet this head on as an organization. And that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Who Will Be the Vikings’ Starting QB?
J.J. McCarthy is practicing already after suffering an ankle injury early in the season. With Carson Wentz also picking up an injury in the loss to the Chargers, the question will be whether the Vikings finally have McCarthy back under center.
The Michigan product has appeared in only a handful of games for the Vikings, struggling to stay healthy. After two seasons, Minnesota still isn’t sure what it has in McCarthy. Once he returns from injury, the team will be hoping he can finally stay on the field. Recently, ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes stated that she isn’t ready to criticize the Vikings’ decision to hand McCarthy the keys to the franchise.
“It’s too early to tell,“ Kimes said on the October 23 edition of “First Take.“ “Like at the moment, yes, it looks like it, right? But JJ McCarthy has attempted 41 passes in the NFL. I’m not going to write the kid off right now based on such a small sample size. When he played, the offensive line was injured. A lot of his game is predicated on athleticism. I think that might be factoring into the ankle aspect of this.
“And I want to be clear, I understand if Vikings fans are watching Sam Darnold, who is thriving in Seattle and feeling some kind of way, but this front office made a decision to go with youth and to bet on it. And I don’t think we can judge them for that when the kid’s barely played football.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell Doesn’t Hold Back After Loss to Chargers appeared first on Heavy Sports.