Chargers dominate Vikings 37-10 as Justin Herbert throws for 3 TDs

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Four days after a humbling loss, the Los Angeles Chargers bounced back in a big way.

Justin Herbert threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night, ending a skid of three losses in four games that knocked them from atop the AFC West.

“It was a big win for us, a big opportunity for us to go correct some more mistakes,” said Herbert, who also rushed for 62 yards.

The Chargers (5-3) won for the first time since Week 6 at Miami, after coming off a resounding 38-24 defeat to the AFC South-leading Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium.

“The team really responded,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said. “They went back to work after Sunday and they set their minds to it that they weren’t going to be denied.”

The Chargers scored 30 points or more for the first time and didn’t punt.

“If we don’t beat ourselves, I feel like we’re a hard football team to beat,” said Ladd McConkey, who caught a 27-yard TD pass from Herbert that made it 21-3 late in the first half.

Keenan Allen had four catches for 44 yards and joined Hall of Famer Antonio Gates as the only players in Chargers history with 11,000 receiving yards.

The Vikings (3-4) lost consecutive games for the first time this season, with both coming in a five-day span. They managed just 12 first downs to 29 for the Chargers, were 3 of 11 on third down and had the ball for just 21 minutes.

“This is not a bury-the-tape kind of time for our organization,” Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said. “This is a watch it, view it, own it — every coach and every player, and it starts with me. I did not have our team prepared to play.”

Carson Wentz started on short rest in place of quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who missed his fifth straight game with an ankle injury. Wentz was 15 of 27 for 144 yards with one touchdown and an interception while getting sacked five times. He played through a left shoulder injury that he aggravated multiple times.

“Hats off to their defense on a short week,” Wentz said. “Scheme-wise, they have some good players. We were banged up up front. I thought guys competed their tails off. I could always get the ball out quicker and make some plays and make decisions faster, but the defense made it tough.”

The Chargers had chances to score on all four of their possessions in the first half, and they led 21-3 at the break. They missed only on Cameron Dicker's 49-yard field-goal attempt that went wide left after holder JK Scott had to go up and get a bad snap. Dicker had made 46 of 47 attempts at home.

Oronde Gadsden II caught an 8-yard TD pass and Kimani Vidal scored on a 3-yard run to go with McConkey's score. Vidal finished with 117 yards rushing.

Scott salvaged another bad snap on Dicker's 49-yard field goal early in the third that extended the lead to 24-3.

After the Vikings were forced to punt, Herbert was intercepted at the Chargers 26. That led to the Vikings' lone touchdown, helped by two Chargers penalties.

Will Reichard’s 32-yard field goal was nullified when the Chargers were penalized for having too many men on the field. The Vikings went for it on fourth-and-9 and Wentz nearly got sacked, but Chargers cornerback Benjamin St-Juste was penalized for illegal contact. That kept the drive alive and Wentz hit Jordan Addison for a 4-yard score to make it 24-10.

The Chargers answered early in the fourth on Herbert's 6-yard pass over the middle to Tre' Harris. The Vikings were penalized for too may players on the field and the Chargers overcame a false-start penalty by Foster Sarell.

Rookie RJ Mickens had his first career interception, picking off Wentz to end Minnesota's first possession in the fourth.

The Chargers caught a couple of breaks on their way to taking a 7-0 lead.

Isaiah Rodgers’ apparent pick-6 of Herbert was reversed and ruled an incomplete pass.

Herbert scrambled up the middle, dodging two defenders in the backfield and two at the line of scrimmage, to get the Chargers to third-and-goal. On the next play, Gadsden scored before the rookie was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Vikings running back Aaron Jones returned from a hamstring injury that kept him out the last four games. He rushed for 15 yards on five carries and had two catches for 15 yards.

Vikings: CB Jeff Okudah (concussion) left in the third quarter. ... LT Christian Darrisaw (knee) and TE Josh Oliver (foot) got hurt.

Chargers: S Derwin James Jr. (ankle) and RG Mekhi Becton (ankle) got hurt in the first quarter.

The Vikings visit Detroit and the Chargers visit Tennessee on Sunday, Nov. 2.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Tre Harris (9) catches a touchdown pass ahead of Minnesota Vikings safety Josh Metellus (44) during the second half of an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Chargers tight end Oronde Gadsden II (86) catches a touchdown pass ahead of Minnesota Vikings safety Josh Metellus (44) during the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz (11) passes during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Chargers running back Kimani Vidal (30) scores a touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) runs with the football during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

It was at a relatively minor event in upstate New York in September 2022 that Ilia Malinin, the self-anointed “Quad God" who was fast becoming the biggest name in figure skating, finally landed the jump that so many people had thought impossible.

Others had tried quad axels in competition over the years. All of them had fallen. That extra 180 degrees of rotation — necessary for the only jump in skating that starts with a forward-facing entry — proved to be a half-revolution too much.

So when Malinin landed it inside the arena made famous by the U.S. hockey team's upset of the Soviets at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, it not only sent shockwaves through the tight-knit skating community but made headlines around the world.

“My mind was just blown,” said two-time Olympic skater Jason Brown.

Yet by conquering the gravity-defying jump, Malinin also raised an important question: What comes next?

The six main jumps in figure skating have been standard since the early 1900s. The only difference between then and now is the number of revolutions. Dick Button landed the first double axel in 1948, and the first triple jump four years later. Kurt Browning landed the first quad, a toe loop, in 1988, and it was 10 years before Timothy Goebel landed the first quad salchow.

By landing the quad axel, Malinin may have maxed out the boundaries of human performance. Most sports scientists agree that the speed and amplitude necessary for five-revolution jumps truly is impossible, leaving figure skating at a crossroads, where a dearth of innovation threatens to take the shine off a sport already fighting to maintain popularity.

“I think it's kind of natural that we were going to get to this point,” said Malinin, the overwhelming favorite to win gold for the U.S. at the Milan Cortina Olympics. "But I haven't reached my top, whether it's in the technical and how much I can jump and spin, but also in the creativity.”

Malinin, 20, points to his signature “raspberry twist,” a somersaulting spin unlike anything that anybody else does. He created it himself, and it tends to bring down the house whenever he throws it down near the end of his programs.

Yet the flashy maneuver also underscores one of the inherent problems with trying to be creative: It doesn't get rewarded.

The International Skating Union has rigid requirements for both short programs and free skates, and it rarely pays off to deviate too far from the script. Malinin might not get a lot of extra points for landing his raspberry twist, for example, since it is not one of the six standard figure skating jumps, but a failure to land it could cost him dearly.

“Absolutely, there are a lot of things I've wanted to try,” Malinin told The Associated Press, “because I think it would be really cool and appealing. But it's a bigger risk for the program itself, and the system and scoring means it doesn't make sense.”

In other words, what's the point in trying to innovate?

“There are so many rules in your programs that you don't have too much wiggle room,” said Alysa Liu, the reigning world champion. “A lot of these rules really restrict us. Like, all of our spins look the same now, but they could look so different."

“One of my training mates, Sonja Himler, does these incredible programs," added Amber Glenn, a three-time U.S. champion, and along with Liu one of the favorites to win Olympic gold for the American team in February.

“Like, she spins the other way, jumps the other way — really cool things that, you know, someone who's watched a little bit of skating will be like, ‘Oh, I’ve never seen that before,'” Glenn said. “Whereas if I go and do, you know, the norm, and do it well, versus what she does, my scores will be better, even though what she does is way more impressive, in my opinion.”

Justin Dillon, the manager of high performance at U.S. Figure Skating, acknowledged having had hard conversations with some skaters about their programs. They may have planned something unique or interesting, but the risk wouldn't be worth the reward.

“I encourage individuality, and bringing it to the ice,” Dillon said, “but if they do something so avant-garde that it doesn't check those boxes, then it really doesn't serve them. It doesn't always mean throw it out, but what can we do to make it a home run?”

To its credit, figure skating's governing body has loosened some restrictions in recent years. The backflip, which was long banned in competition because of its inherent danger, is allowed now, though it also doesn't carry a whole lot of scoring weight.

Is that hold-your-breath element of risk and uncertainty the next big step in skating?

“I mean, you're cringing. It legit scares me," Glenn said of the backflip. “If you can do it, great. I think it's so fun. I want to learn it once I'm done competing. But the thought of practicing it in like, a warmup or in training, it just scares me.”

Brown has never been able to consistently land quad jumps in competition. Instead, he relies on near-perfect execution of triple jumps, along with arguably the best artistry in figure skating, to consistently challenge for podium placements in major competitions.

Maybe, Brown mused, the next innovation in figure skating has nothing to do with extreme feats of athletic ability.

“I have so much respect for the ways in which people are pushing the sport technically,” he said, "but I think the more that people fixate on executing an element, the less risk people take artistically, because they’re already taking these risks technically. And it is very hard to do both. So maybe the next step for figure skating is to reward the story we're trying to tell."

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Amber Glenn skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Ilia Malinin skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Ilia Malinin competes during the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Ilia Malinin competes during the men's short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)