Austin Ekeler returned to practice with the Los Angeles Chargers on Wednesday for the first time since he suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 1.

Ekeler went through individual drills where he sprinted with the football in his hand and bounced up and down on the injured ankle throughout the portion of practice open to the media.

After practice, Ekeler told reporters that playing this Sunday is a "possibility."

"I can run full speed straight ahead right now," Ekeler said. "But if I go turn -- that's where I have been trying to build back towards."

The challenge for the running back is that making cuts or turns is still painful. Ekeler said he had never had a high ankle sprain before.

"I'm not at a point where I've gone out there and tried to push it 100% yet," he said, "That's not how the process works. You continue to build yourself back. It's kind of like climbing the stairs. You're not gonna just jump straight to the top stair and tell me, 'Oh yeah, I can make it there.' You kind of go one-by-one, 'OK, now we're progressing towards 100%.' So I haven't been there yet."

Mike Williams has been ruled out for the rest of the 2023 season with a torn ACL.

Williams has been one of the Chargers' top targets since he entered the league in 2017. In March 2022, the Chargers rewarded Williams with a three-year, $60 million contract.

Williams caught a pass in the third quarter and went to make a juke move to get by Vikings safety Harrison Smith. But Williams planted his left leg, fell, and was tackled from behind.

The Minnesota Vikings had trouble on offense as they attempted to score set up at the Los Angeles Chargers' 6-yard line with 35 seconds left on Sunday.

The Vikings managed just a single unsuccessful play on its final drive, attributing a lengthy pre-snap delay to the deafening crowd noise at home.

Kirk Cousins said he "just couldn't hear" Kevin O'Connell's play call immediately after a fourth-down conversion that put the Vikings in scoring range.

The team was out of timeouts by that point, but rather than spike the ball to preserve time, Cousins rushed the offense up to the line and prepared to run a first-and-goal call. By the time he actually snapped it, 23 seconds had run off the clock, and he'd opted to run his own play.

Cousins' impromptu call ended up being the same call O'Connell had been trying to signal, but the execution was so hurried after the prolonged setup that Cousins' final pass toward T.J. Hockenson was tipped and intercepted.

The Vikings' 0-3 start is their worst in 10 years. 

Austin Ekeler has been ruled out by the Los Angeles Chargers for Week 3.

Ekeler also missed Week 2 with an ankle injury.

The Los Angeles Chargers have started the season 0-2 with the same defensive struggles and late-game mishaps that have been a staple under Brandon Staley.

"Panicking is never gonna fix anything," Justin Herbert said. "And so, you know, it's up to us to be able to fix that as an offense and score more points. And you know, we believe in the defense, and sometimes we're gonna score a bunch of points. Sometimes, we're not, but it's up to us as a team to play together."

In both of their losses, which came within three points, the Chargers lost primarily because of their inability to stop explosive plays.

The Chargers hired Staley in January of 2021 primarily because of his success as the Rams defensive coordinator during 2020, when the defense led the league in both yards and points allowed per game.

Austin Ekeler has been downgraded to doubtful for Week 2 at the Tennessee Titans by the Los Angeles Chargers with an ankle injury. Ekeler had 117 yards in Week 1 for the Chargers.

Joshua Kelley figures to take the majority of carries for the Chargers.