Vikings blasted by Herbert, Chargers in disastrous primetime stinker

That was a nationally-televised ass-kicking of embarrassing proportions for the Minnesota Vikings.

They came into Thursday night's game in Los Angeles looking to bounce back from a disappointing home loss four days earlier. Instead, they were utterly demolished by a Chargers team that had lost three of its last four games. Nothing worked for the Vikings in any of the game's three phases, as they were out-gained 419 to 164 in a 37-10 loss with much of the country watching on Prime Video.

Kevin O'Connell's offense was a complete mess in Carson Wentz's fifth start. Wentz was sacked five times and had another overturned due to penalty, which set up Minnesota's only touchdown of the night. An offensive line missing three starters hardly did him any favors, but Wentz frequently compounded the issue by holding onto the ball for too long. That's been a problem in his entire stint as the Vikings' fill-in starter. He also threw a horrendous fourth-quarter interception by sailing the ball over Justin Jefferson's head.

Wentz came into this game nursing a left shoulder injury, and he was beaten and battered all night long. He was visibly in pain on numerous occasions, but the Vikings never opted to play rookie backup Max Brosmer until one final garbage time drive after the two-minute warning. They averaged just 3.5 yards per play over the course of the game.

And somehow, Brian Flores' defense might've had an even worse night than the offense did. The Vikings were carved up by Justin Herbert and the Chargers like a hot knife going through butter. Herbert threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns by consistently finding receivers wide open down the field. When he didn't have anyone open, he was able to step up and easily run for first downs. He had 62 yards rushing, most of them on scrambles.

Kimani Vidal, the Chargers' third-string running back, racked up 117 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. The Chargers went 9 of 13 on third down and didn't have to punt once. The Vikings' defense could manage just two sacks and one deflected interception all night. The Chargers possessed the ball for nearly 40 of the game's 60 minutes.

Even special teams got in on the misery. The Vikings committed eight penalties, two of which were against rookie Tyler Batty to negate solid kick returns by Myles Price. And at the end of the half, Will Reichard missed a field goal for just the second time all season when his 53-yarder on the fire drill came up short.

This was an epic disaster of a night in which everything that could've gone wrong did go wrong. The Vikings had an early pick-six overturned (perhaps controversially) upon review. They lost Josh Oliver and Christian Darrisaw to injuries in the first quarter. They couldn't run the ball or stop the run or throw the ball or stop the pass. They trailed 21-3 at halftime, cut it to 24-10 on a Jordan Addison touchdown catch, and then didn't do any scoring the rest of the way.

This one is going to lead to some major soul-searching for the Vikings over their mini bye this weekend. They need to find some answers across the board, and they need to do it quickly if they're going to avoid suffering a similar fate two Sundays from now in Detroit.

The good news is J.J. McCarthy seems likely to return for that Nov. 2 game against the Lions. But unless the Vikings as a team play a whole lot better, McCarthy might be in for a tough time as well.

There's no way around it: That was one of the ugliest losses of the O'Connell era.