5 easiest defenses Justin Herbert and the Chargers face in 2023
By Jason Reed
1. Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings had one of the worst defenses in the league last season but most pundits would probably still rank the team ahead of the Bears. It really is a toss-up between two really bad defenses but at the end of the day, Minnesota is probably going to be worse off in 2023.
Minnesota ranked 27th in defensive DVOA, 28th in points allowed and 31st in total yards. Those are already bad numbers and when you factor in who the Vikings actually played last year it is pretty obvious that this defense was even worse than the stats suggest.
Minnesota played a regressing Aaron Rodgers twice, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen and Dak Prescott. In those games, the defense allowed an average of 31.6 points per game. Aside from those five games, Minnesota caught some breaks with the quarterbacks they got to play and still had a bad season defensively.
Add in the fact that the Vikings got worse on the defensive side of the ball this offseason. The team just traded Za'Darius Smith and saw the likes of Patrick Peterson and Eric Kendricks walk in the offseason.
This is going to be a really bad Vikings defense and the Chargers should be able to go into U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 3 and score at ease. Moore's offense scored 40 points against the Vikings last season and this Chargers team is more talented than that Cowboys team.