National Football League

Vikings at Panthers: 3 things we learned

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Carolina Panthers 22-10 on Sunday afternoon in Week 3. Here are the three biggest takeaways from this NFC showdown in Charlotte.

The Minnesota Vikings upset the Carolina Panthers 22-10 on Sunday, improving to 3-0 on the season while dropping last year’s NFC champs to a shocking to 1-2 start. The Vikings disrupted Panthers star quarterback Cam Newton all afternoon, as the dual-threat star threw three picks in an uncharacteristically rattled performance.

Here are the three biggest takeaways from the Vikings’ win over the Panthers on Sunday:

1. The Panthers have to run the football to be successful, period.

It’s interesting how the Panthers’ mantra is “Keep Pounding.” For Carolina to have success on the gridiron, it has to do a better job of pounding the rock on a consistent and productive basis.

Carolina is simply not the same without the oft-injured Jonathan Stewart in the backfield. Cameron Artis-Payne is young; Fozzy Whittaker is really only a stop-gap tailback; and Mike Tolbert is just a fullback at this stage of his NFL career.

Newton has legs, but has to stay a pocket passer to have his health for the entire season. He can’t leave the pocket to make up for the dismal rushing attack of his team so far. To counterbalance an ineffective run game, Newton has to become a more accurate down the field passer. This has been his Achilles’ Heel his entire football career. Newton is a great player, but he can’t do it all by himself.

2. The Vikings defense is the best in the NFC.

To go into Bank of America Stadium and beat the Panthers on their turf is an incredible accomplishment for any NFL team. Carolina had not lost at home since halfway through the 2014 NFL season, stringing together 14 straight home wins.

The reason the Vikings were able to upset Carolina in Charlotte was because of the championship caliber defense of head coach Mike Zimmer. Minnesota forced Newton to throw three awful interceptions and sacked him over eight times.

The Vikings seem to be elite in all three levels of its defense, but its most impressive unit has to be the defensive line. If Minnesota can continue to win in the trenches when on defense, it will be very hard to beat the Vikings when they have the lead.

3. Minnesota is championship caliber in late September.

Injuries have not derailed this Vikings team whatsoever. With the Arizona Cardinals struggling mightily, the Vikings seem like a halfway decent bet to win the NFC and go to Super Bowl LI in Houston this February.

This team doesn’t make mistakes, capitalizes on its opponents, and does not give up no matter how difficult it is for them at any cross-section of a game. Minnesota plays with great poise, great confidence, and great discipline.

Zimmer has his team playing inspired football in the first three weeks of the season. Most teams could not handle this much adversity to key players on its roster like the Vikings have.

This might be the best Vikings team since the 15-1 1998 Vikings that lost the NFC Championship to the Atlanta Falcons, and if things keep breaking the right way, there’s no reason to believe Minnesota can’t take it one step further this January.