Vikings Chargers Line

Written by Steve Janus - Google +

This Sunday two of the NFL’s most disappointing teams of 2010 will open the season against each other, as the San Diego Chargers are set to host the Minnesota Vikings. Both of these teams came into last year as the favorites to win their division, but got off to a miserable 2-5 start. The Chargers were able to surge to a 9-7 finish, while the Vikings finished just 6-10. Both believe they are primed to return to the top in 2011, and we will find out just who the better team is this Sunday when they kickoff at 4:15 ET.

According to the week 1 NFL odds, oddsmakers have San Diego favored by 9 points over Minnesota with the total set at 41.5 points.

Minnesota Vikings:

After just missing out on a trip to the Super Bowl in 2009, the Vikings decided to bring back Brett Favre for another run in 2010. The dream season was no where to be found, and the Vikings were left without a starting quarterback for 2011. That prompted them to use their first round draft pick on Florida State’s Christian Ponder, but instead of making the rookie start, they went out and added veteran Donovan McNabb.

Whether or not McNabb can return to the form of his days with Philadelphia is up in the air, but one thing that is certain is Adrian Peterson is by far the best running back he has ever had in his career. Peterson will draw so much attention from the defense that McNabb should have all kinds of time to throw the ball and will likely get a lot of favorable 1 on 1 matchups on the outside.

Minnesota lost star wide out Sidney Rice, but are expecting big things out of third-year receiver Percy Harvin. They also bring back tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and wide out Bernard Berrian, plus added talented rookie tight end Kyle Rudolph.

Defensively the Vikings will have a much different look to their front four. Starting defensive tackle Kevin Williams is suspended for the first two games, and they didn’t bring back starting defensive end Ray Edwards and defensive tackle Pat Williams. They still have a Pro Bowl defensive end in Jared Allen, but this is not nearly as talented a group as it was last year. They also had to replace outside linebacker Ben Leber and safety Madieu Williams.

San Diego Chargers:

The Chargers are a scary team coming into 2011, as they aren’t happy at all with the way 2010 went. They finished with the No. 1 offense and defense, yet only won 9 games. A lot of that had to do with special teams, and some with the team just not taking games as seriously as they should. They went out and added Rich Bisaccia to take over on special teams, and I look for that unit to really make some big improvements this year.

They have one of the top quarterbacks in the game in Philip Rivers, who proved that he doesn’t even need his top two targets to pick apart opposing secondaries. Rivers was without star wide out Vincent Jackson for 11 games and star tight end Antonio Gates for six games. San Diego also has some nice complimentary receivers in Malcolm Floyd, Patrick Crayton, and rookie Vincent Brown.

The Chargers invested a lot in running back Ryan Mathews, but he failed to deliver in his rookie season. Backup Mike Tolbert filled in nicely, but this team is counting on Mathews to really have a big second season.

The Chargers offense gets so much attention, that few really grasp how good they played defensively in 2010. They allowed the fewest passing yards of any team (177.8 ypg) and the fourth fewest rushing yards (93.8). They used their first round pick on 3-4 defensive end Corey Liuget, added veteran strong safety Bob Sanders, and a couple of experienced linebackers in Na’il Diggs and Takeo Spikes.

Betting Trends:

Minnesota is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog.

San Diego is 35-17 ATS in their last 52 games as a home favorite of 3.5-10.0.

The OVER is 11-2 in Chargers last 13 games in September.

If you are looking for a winning weekend, check out what expert handicapper Steve Janus has going in week 1 of the NFL.

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