The middling Los Angeles Chargers host the Minnesota Vikings in a Week 8 Thursday Night Football clash.
The pregame narrative: After starting 3-0, the Chargers are now 4-3 ahead of Thursday’s contest. Meanwhile, the Vikings are struggling without starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy and will once again rely on Carson Wentz in this pivotal matchup.
Check out my +360 same-game parlay Vikings vs. Chargers predictions on Oct. 23, featuring Ladd McConkey and an ATS pick.
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Vikings vs. Chargers predictions
SGP: Vikings +7.5 | McConkey over 55.5 receiving yards | Wentz over 11.5 rushing yards (+360)
Vikings +7.5 (-240): With the way the Chargers’ offence is playing right now, it feels safe to back the visitors on an alternate spread.
- L.A. has only managed to win by more than a touchdown once this season. That was back in Week 2 against the lowly Las Vegas Raiders.
- The Chargers’ only win in the past four weeks was a two-point victory over the Miami Dolphins.
- The offence hasn’t scored 30-plus points in a game yet, putting up 21.6 points per game.
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All of that limits L.A.’s ceiling. The Vikings average more points on offence (24.2) and allow fewer points on defence (20.8).
Minnesota has been the better team and has covered this spread in all but one game.
I don’t want to completely overlook home-field advantage, but the Vikings should be able to do enough to keep this one within reach. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they won straight up.
Thursday Night Football SGP picks
McConkey over 55.5 receiving yards (-112): Some were starting to panic on McConkey, but his production has been steadily increasing.
He’s surpassed this yardage in two straight and is coming off a season-high 15 targets in last week’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
If he can continue to play like the WR1 in his offence, this line is way too low.
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In Week 7, Minnesota allowed two receivers on the Philadelphia Eagles to go off:
- A.J. Brown: 4 receptions, 121 yards
- DeVonta Smith: 9 receptions, 183 yards
Considering the Eagles’ pass game was struggling mightily before that, it doesn’t reflect well on the Vikings’ secondary.
Saquon Barkley ran for just 2.4 yards per carry on 18 attempts.
Since the Chargers are without their top two running backs (Omarion Hampton, Najee Harris), they should gameplan to attack through the air, much like Philly.
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Wentz over 11.5 rushing yards (-120): The first thing worth noting is that Wentz is 3-1 against this line in his time as the starting quarterback.
Now, let’s focus on the matchup.
- The Chargers’ defence forces QBs to scramble at the second-highest rate (9.51%).
- Because of that, L.A. allows 30.6 rushing yards per game to opposing QBs.
This line isn’t asking for anything unusual from Wentz, and I believe he can cash this final leg with just a few rushes.
Vikings vs. Chargers predictions made at 3:50 p.m. ET 10/22/2025.
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Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.