NFL Week 8 TNF: Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) vs. Minnesota Vikings (3-3) Odds & Picks - Oct. 23
All odds provided by Sports Interaction.
Chargers vs. Vikings Point Spread/Moneyline Prediction
The Chargers are at home, they have the better record, and they are the favorites. But they have also lost three of their last four games. And this season, they are an ugly 1-5 ATS when they are favored to win. That includes five straight losses on the spread, as they were barely even able to beat the Dolphins for their most recent win, 29-27, a couple weeks ago.
Minnesota, meanwhile, has been winning every other game they play. After last week’s tough loss, that means they’re due for a win in Week 8. Apart from that Week 2 debacle against the Falcons, this team has been very competitive every week, losing their other two games by just three and six points. They should keep this one close, and we wouldn’t be surprised if Carson Wentz pulled out an outright upset.
Prediction: Minnesota Vikings +3.5 Point Spread (-110)
Chargers vs. Vikings Over/Under Total Prediction
Thursday Night Football used to be a place where the game went to die. Boring, low-scoring games with awful, sloppy teams were the norm. Not this year. This year, all six TNF games so far have seen 43+ points. We’ve been betting the under a lot, but no more. The over is 5-1 when Minnesota is involved this year, and 4/6 games have gone over this total. L.A. has seen their last two games fly over this total too.
Prediction: Alternative Game Total Points Over 43.5 (-135)
Chargers vs. Vikings Player Prop Best Bets
Player | Anytime Touchdown Odds |
Jordan Mason, RB (MIN) | +115 |
Kimani Vidal, RB (LAC) | +120 |
Justin Jefferson, WR (MIN) | +140 |
Quentin Johnston, WR (LAC) | +155 |
Keenan Allen, WR (LAC) | +155 |
Ladd McConkey, WR (LAC) | +160 |
Oronde Gadsden, TE (LAC) | +190 |
Jordan Addison, WR (MIN) | +195 |
T.J. Hockenson, TE (MIN) | +230 |
In the four games since veteran Aaron Jones was injured, Jordan Mason has scored four TDs. And those are actually tied for 10th-most in the NFL. He has scored in three of his last four games, and he is tied for sixth with an 87.5 percentage of the red zone carries for Minnesota. L.A. has also given up eight rushing TDs to RBs this year (second-most in football) including seven in the last three weeks.
Meanwhile, Minnesota’s QB has also piqued our interest. Carson Wentz isn’t necessarily known as a dual-threat QB. But even at age 32, he can still move around pretty well. In his early career as a starter, he put up 200+ rush yards in four of five seasons where he started 12+ games. He even had 17 rushing attempts in a game a couple of years ago for the Rams.
And this season, he’s been scrambling a lot for Minnesota. He had just four yards rushing in that blowout win over the Bengals, which was fair enough. But since then, he’s taken two attempts for 12 yards in Week 4, three for 13 the week after, and four for 28 this past Sunday.
And with a matchup against the Chargers defense, which allows 30.6 rushing yards per game to QBs (third-most in the NFL), we would have thought betting sites would set his prop a little higher than the 11.5 we got. While Tua Tagovailoa and Daniel Jones were quiet over the last two weeks, L.A. allowed the opposing QB to rush for 20+ yards in each of their first five games.
Best Bet:
- Jordan Mason Anytime Touchdown (+115)
- Carson Wentz Over 11.5 Rush Yards (-110)