Vikings on verge of making unwanted franchise history against Chargers

While the Vikings' quarterback room has dominated discussions coming out of Sunday's loss to the Eagles, Minnesota's defense is on the verge of making an unfortunate piece of franchise history in Thursday night's game against the Chargers.

The Vikings have not forced their opponent to turn the ball over in any of their last three games. They lost the turnover battle 2-0 against the Steelers in Dublin, 2-0 against the Browns in London, and 2-0 a few days ago against Philadelphia. That's a pretty good way to go 1-2 in a stretch where all three games were very winnable.

If the Vikings don't come up with a takeaway in Los Angeles, it would mark the first time in their 65-year history that they've gone four straight games without one, per Stathead's database.

This is the first time the Vikings have even gone three straight games without a takeaway since Weeks 15-17 to end the 2018 season. It also happened earlier in 2018 and in 2016, 2015, and 2013, but each time, the Vikings recorded at least one takeaway in the fourth game of that span.

Last season, forcing turnovers was one of the key strengths of the Vikings' elite defense under coordinator Brian Flores. They tied for the league lead with 33 takeaways in 17 games, with an NFL-high 24 interceptions to go with nine fumble recoveries. They forced at least one in every single game in the regular season, and came away with multiple in 11 games. They thrived on takeaways...until getting blanked in that department by the Rams in the first round of the playoffs.

Coming into this year, the Vikings' defense looked even better on paper with the additions of Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in the middle of the line. But for whatever reason, they haven't had their same turnover-forcing magic — with one obvious exception.

Back in Week 3, against Jake Browning and the Bengals, the Vikings recorded five takeaways. Isaiah Rodgers forced three of them and took two back to the house in a historic performance. Outside of that game, though, the Vikings have two total takeaways in their other six games. One of those almost shouldn't count, as it came on the Bears' desperation lateral play as time expired in Week 1. Minnesota's only other takeaway came in Week 2 when Eric Wilson punched the ball out of Drake London's hands.

Where have the takeaways gone? The Vikings did lose Camryn Bynum, who had three picks and two fumble recoveries last season. They've also played almost all of the season without Andrew Van Ginkel, who had two pick-sixes and a forced fumble in 2024. Byron Murphy Jr. doesn't have an interception after snagging six of them last year. Allen and Hargrave have struggled to make their impact felt. And it does also feel like the Vikings' inconsistency on offense has hurt the defense by not forcing opponents to get one-dimensional while trailing. The Vikings haven't led by more than four points once in their five non-Bengals games.

Thursday night could present a good opportunity for the Vikings to get back into the takeaway column and avoid making team history. The Chargers have 10 giveaways this season, tied for the eighth-most in the league. Six of those are interceptions by Justin Herbert, who threw two of them on Sunday in LA's loss to the Colts.

Flores' group finding a way to create at least a turnover or two would provide a big boost to the Vikings' chances of winning.

More Vikings coverage