The San Diego Chargers will lose to the Minnesota Vikings

Adrian Peterson

You remember 296 yards. You remember that the one overriding feeling was that the San Diego Chargers players were literally incapable of tackling the Minnesota Vikings Running Back, even if it were more than one or two of them trying at the same time.

Now, factor in that the Chargers essentially have one starter-level defensive lineman and at least two Linebackers that are probably actually physically incapable of tackling Adrian Peterson (if not more than that). Relying on Eric Weddle and Jimmy Wilson to keep you in the game against one of the best Running Backs of all-time seems risky, at best.

Norv Turner

I don't hate Norv Turner. I didn't even necessarily hate him as a coach. However, rooting for a team coached by him was similar to riding a roller coaster after drinking a bit too much soda.

Part of that roller coaster was those games where, in the first few minutes, you knew the Chargers were not going to be stopped on offense. It seems somewhat likely, considering he spent years working against John Pagano's defense in practice, that he has a masterful gameplan for exploiting the holes in it.

I'm not saying that Vikings defense will shut down the Chargers offense (although Mike Zimmer didn't get that head coaching job without reason), but I do think the Vikings stand a good chance of making the San Diego defense look as bad as it did against the Bengals last week.

Jahleel Addae, Cordarrelle Patterson, Mike Wallace and Pagano's Stubbornness

I know that's four reasons, but they're all basically the same one.

This is a game for John Pagano to prove how honest he is, as well as how good of a coach he is. This is, for all intents and purposes, a game to go on his resume the next time he interviews for a head coaching job.

The touchdowns given up by Brandon Flowers last Sunday were on Pagano. Even after McCoy and Flowers tried to cover for him, Pagano came out and jumped on that grenade himself.

His scheme left Flowers with no over-the-top help and without enough pressure on the QB to make it a fair fight. By giving Eric Weddle the job normally given to Jahleel Addae (man coverage on the opposing TE), Pagano hurt the back end of his defense a great deal. He should've just slapped Jimmy Wilson on Tyler Eifert and thrown in some zone blitzes to create pressure and try and force Dalton into a bad pass over the middle.

My guess is that Addae won't play in this one on Sunday. The Vikings have at least two burners in their WR group, and Teddy Bridgewater has the arm to get them the ball. Brandon Flowers and Jason Verrett will need Weddle's help deep, which means sticking Jimmy Wilson on Kyle Rudolph and hoping that the pass rush shows up this week. Otherwise, this one is going to get real ugly, real fast.

As for that pass rush, it really only shows up on obvious passing downs. Melvin Ingram and Jerry Attaochu are not effective players when they have to watch for the run, and with Adrian Peterson in the game....will they ever not have to watch for the run?