LA Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh joins historic club with big win over Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh joined a historic club after his team comfortably beat the Minnesota Vikings 37-10 on Thursday Night Football.

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert threw three touchdowns and running back Kimani Vidal rushed for over 100 yards and another score as LA dispatched the Vikings.

With the victory, Harbaugh became just the second person in NFL history to earn 60 wins as both a starting quarterback and head coach. He joins Norm Van Brocklin as the only people to reach that mark.

Harbaugh had a 66-74 record over a 13-year playing career in the NFL which included stints with the Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens and the then named San Diego Chargers.

As a head coach, he compiled a 44-19-1 record with the San Francisco 49ers between 2011 and 2014 and Thursday’s victory improves his record with the Chargers to 16-9 in his two seasons back in California.

The win over Minnesota at SoFi Stadium helps get the Chargers’ season back on track after the team lost three of their last four.

The game began strongly for the home team, with LA leading 21-3 at halftime with three touchdown drives in the first two quarters.

The Vikings got their only touchdown of the game with 4:36 left in the third quarter when back-up quarterback Carson Wentz connected with Jordan Addison to reduce LA’s lead to 14 points.

But Minnesota failed to score again after that and the Chargers added 13-straight points to close out the victory and improve to 5-3.

Herbert finished the game 18-of-25 passing for 227 yards, three TDs and one interception, while also running for 62 yards.

According to the NFL, it was Herbert’s third game of his NFL career with three-plus touchdown passes and more than 50 yards rushing, something no other quarterback in Chargers history has ever done.

After the game, Harbaugh was effusive in his praise of his star QB.

“It’s just another thing about Justin Herbert that I don’t know how he does it,” Harbaugh told reporters. “It’s nothing but respect.

“To be able to actually throw an interception and then come back the next drive – that’s the great ones who can do that. The great, great ones. Just measure what they do after something goes bad, after there’s an interception. That’s the worst thing that can really happen to you as a quarterback. And then chart what they do with the next drive. That shakes a lot of guys. Not Justin Herbert, not the great ones, back right down the field. … It’s incredible.”

For the Vikings, they slip to 3-4 and continue to struggle on offense with starting QB JJ McCarthy still sidelined with an ankle injury.

McCarthy’s replacement, Wentz, came into the game nursing a shoulder knock and looked out of sorts all evening as he made his fifth straight start for the team.

Minnesota had just 164 total yards on offense while the Chargers had 419. LA also dominated the time of possession, having over 39 minutes of the ball while the Vikings had just under 21 minutes.

Wentz’s interception midway through the fourth quarter halted any slim hopes Minnesota might have had about a dramatic comeback. And with the team’s playoffs hopes on the line, the return of McCarthy – who was the emergency third QB on Thursday – is expected before their Week 9 game against the Detroit Lions.

The only bright spot for the Vikings on Thursday was their star wide receiver Justin Jefferson having his own moment of history. Jefferson joined Hall of Famer Randy Moss (8,375 yards) and Torry Holt (8,156) as the only players with at least 8,000 receiving yards in their first six seasons in NFL history, per NFL Research.

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