It was the kind of Week 7 that shakes up the NFL board from top to bottom, and the latest power rankings reflect it. Only the Minnesota Vikings are still unbeaten, while the Los Angeles Chargers are the lone winless team left standing. With Week 8 now ahead, there’s plenty of churn near the bottom, starting with a Chargers team that somehow made it through its bye week without adding another loss.
- Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers didn’t play in Week 7, but their season still feels like it’s slipping further out of focus. An early bye usually gives a team a chance to catch its breath and regroup, and that’s exactly the kind of reset this group needed after a brutal start.
Instead, the bigger question hanging over Los Angeles is what happens after the season, because this isn’t remotely close to what anyone expected. Justin Herbert with Mike McDaniel calling the plays was supposed to mean a major offensive jump. The defense was supposed to stay strong, even without Jesse Minter.
None of it has come together. Injuries have mounted, the football has gotten worse, and the Chargers are stuck in a mess they never seemed headed for.
- Tennessee Titans
Tennessee is now 1-6 after a late loss to the Cleveland Browns, and the home struggles are glaring too, with the Titans still winless at 0-4 in Nashville.
The issue isn’t just the losses. It’s the way they keep happening. Robert Saleh even ended up essentially putting his offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, in the crosshairs after the game.
Saleh has every reason to be fed up with the offense’s performance this season. Cam Ward’s growth was never going to be a straight line, and nobody should’ve expected it to look smooth from the jump. But when the defeats keep piling up in front of your own crowd, the frustration grows louder.
What was supposed to be a possible breakout season has become a rebuilding year instead. That’s part of the reality now in Tennessee, though it may also mean the offense needs to be reworked.
In Other News...
Vikings Face A Familiar Problem As NFLs Last Unbeaten Team
After Week 7, the Vikings are the NFLs lone unbeaten team at 6-0, a familiar spot for a franchise that has been here before. Other previously perfect teams took losses, leaving Minnesota alone at the top of the league standings and setting up the kind of midseason attention that comes with carrying the last undefeated mark.
History gives the Vikings plenty to think about, because they have been the leagues final unbeaten team seven times and the results have been all over the map. Some of those runs ended with Super Bowl trips, others fizzled out, and the larger trend around the league since 2016 has been encouraging enough to keep the focus on the next step rather than the record itself. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Unbeaten Run Is Hiding A Justin Jefferson Concern
Minnesotas 6-0 start has been built on a defense that has looked sharp under Brian Flores, giving the Vikings enough week-to-week stability to keep rolling while the offense settles in around it. Even with the unbeaten record, there is a quiet layer to the conversation around Justin Jefferson, whose production has been solid but not quite in the usual stratosphere for one of the leagues premier receivers.
Through five games, Jefferson has 23 catches for 302 yards and three touchdowns, and his involvement has become a more interesting subplot than anyone in Minnesota would prefer during a perfect start. As the Vikings get ready for Detroit in Week 8, how often the ball finds Jefferson figures to matter just as much as the matchup itself, especially if Minnesota wants its offense to match the pace of its record. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Are 6-0 But Fans Can See The Real Test Coming
The unbeaten start has given Minnesota plenty to feel good about, but it has also come with an asterisk that is hard to ignore. Through six games, the Vikings have leaned heavily on a Brian Flores-led defense that has allowed the fewest points per game in the league, while the offense has often done just enough to keep the wins coming.
Now comes the stretch that will tell the real story. Detroit, Buffalo, Green Bay and San Francisco are next on the schedule, and three of those games are on the road, which should provide a far sterner measure of how far this 6-0 start can really go. If the Vikings are going to keep this rolling, they will need more than timely stops and survival mode on offense. [Read more 🡒]