If the Chargers allow the Vikings to make Sunday's game a test of raw footspeed, men wearing purple will celebrate at the end of the Week 3 contest in Minnesota.

For sprint speed, take the Vikings over not only the two teams the Chargers have played but also the 10 other teams left on the schedule.

The Vikings were built to play indoors, where speed is heightened over size. They are outdoors for the second year in a row but will move next summer into a dome, rising now near where the old Metrodome was.

Fourth-year General Manager Rick Spielman has stocked the receiving corps with several burners. Not a one ran slower than 4.45 in his official 40-yard dash.

The fastest Vikings pass-catcher may also be the oldest, Mike Wallace . He ran a 4.33 coming out of Mississippi in 2009 and top-drawer speed is still his calling card. Spielman got Wallace on the cheap last spring after he flamed out with the Dolphins, who lavished $30 million guaranteed on him two years ago.

Spielman also imported three young speedsters who fill out the receiver rotation in Charles D. Johnson (4.39), Jarius Wright (4.42) and Cordarrelle Patterson (4.42.).

Jerick McKinnon, the complementary running back to Adrian Peterson, was a 4.41 runner out of Georgia Southern. Spielman took him in the third round two years ago.

Football isn't a track meet. The blending of talents often decides which teams plays the fastest. Several of the same Vikings receivers are suspect route-runners, slowing down the offense.

On offense, the Chargers can play faster than the norms, despite having only so-so sprint speed for the most part.

Quarterback Philip Rivers is a turbo-charger, enhancing the speed of the parts around him. It's close to irrelevant that Rivers, when moving out of the pocket, is slow by NFL standards.

On defense, the Chargers are noticeably faster than in 2013, their first season under GM Tom Telesco and coach Mike McCoy. Corneback Jason Verrett, the team's top draft choice in '14, showed off his 4.38 speed in the opener when he ran down Lions rookie Ameer Abdullah, limiting him to 34 yards, despite getting a late start.

Verrett can't be everywhere. On the synthetic FieldTurf at the University of Minnesota stadium, the Chargers will need to avoid certain hot spots.

The last thing their kick cover team will want, for instance, is a line drive to Patterson. Enamored of Patterson's speed, Spielman drafted the erratic Tennessee alum over the far more advanced Keenan Allen , who left Cal as the school's reception leader.

Allen is having the better career. Patterson, though a bust so far as a receiver, where he still looks raw, nevertheless made the Pro Bowl as a rookie for his 32.4-yard average on kickoff returns. One of his runs went 109 yards, two went for touchdowns. He slipped to 25.6 yards last year, but is at 27.7 off three runs this year.

He is, at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, surprisingly shifty. In the open field, he poses one of the NFL's most difficult tackling tests.