Thursday night has consistently delivered some of the best games of the year. Now, after three straight weeks of divisional matchups, Thursday night is dishing out its first inter-conference matchup of the season.
The Chargers are 3.5-point favourites at home with the over-under set at 44.5.
Los Angeles will be donning their all-dark blue throwbacks, while the Vikings will be going with their all-whites.
Now, let's get into who our experts picked before a full breakdown of the game!
Experts picks
Eric (67-40-1): Chargers 27-23 Vikings
Minnesota is on the road after a close loss to the Eagles and have now dropped two of their last three. Now, they're heading to the West Coast for their third away game in four weeks.
They lost to the Steelers in Pittsburgh, then followed it up with a win in Cleveland before coming back home for the Philly matchup.
Meanwhile, the Chargers didn't have to go anywhere last week with a home loss to the Colts last week, having now loss two straight home games in the past three weeks.
Both teams are banged up and neither are particularly great at home or on the road, but both teams have each put up over 20 points in the past two weeks. Each Thursday night game this season has been decided by 10 points or less, except in Week 6 between the Eagles and Giants.
I'm going Chargers here, but won't be surprised in the slightest if the Vikings pull it off.
Miguel (67-40-1): Chargers 24-17 Vikings
The worst team in the NFC North visits the Los Angeles Chargers, who should be able to take advantage of playing at home.
Although Minnesota has been improving its game by putting up at least 340 yards of offence in each of the past two weeks, and despite their latest defeat to Philly, I don't think it'll be enough to overcome the Chargers.
All in all, I expect a close game in which any mistake by the Chargers could allow the Vikings to come away with a win, but LA will minimize them in the end.
Paul (67-40-1): Vikings 21-20 Chargers
I like the Chargers and love Justin Herbert, but I think the Vikings defense will make life difficult for Herbert, who was pressured 25 times against the Colts.
Star tackle Joe Alt will be returning for the game tonight to help give the offensive line a boost that they needed after last week's disaster without him. But without Rashawn Slater on the other side, it can still be a nightmare for Herbert.
Minnesota have had some things to clean up following their game against the Eagles, which they realistically should’ve won based on offensive success rates.
I trust Brian Flores to clean up his defence and show up massively.
Give me Cam Akers’ Vikings!
Henri (59-48-1): Chargers 38-10 Vikings
The Vikings looked much better against the Eagles than anyone could have expected. But I think the Chargers can get it done at home.
Losing to the Colts last week shouldn't be any indication of much since they're the best team in football this season. They did get blown out by the Commanders, but they also took down the Broncos at home.
Justin Herbert will put on a show here and secure a clear victory for the Chargers. He put up 450 total yards and three touchdowns last week.
I think he'll get those interception numbers down tonight, and if the Chargers can give him a little more time in the pocket, I wouldn't even be surprised if we see a slight blowout here.
Game Breakdown
As stated beforehand, the Chargers are coming off a 38-24 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts. The Vikings are coming off a 28-22 loss to the Eagles in London.
Los Angeles are 4-3, Minnesota 3-3 as they prepare for their first matchup since 2023 when the Chargers won 28-24.
The Vikings will be without young starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy for yet another week, leaving Carson Wentz to resume the role of starter.
In his four starts this season, Wentz has averaged 268 passing yards and one interception per game. After throwing a total of five TDs in the first three games, Wentz couldn't find the end zone last week for the first time this season, but recorded two interceptions.
He's been sacked a total of 14 times this season (3.5 average), while the team's rushing game hasn't eclipsed 100 yards as a whole for three straight weeks now.
In those same three weeks, the Vikings' defence has yet to force a single turnover and has allowed an average of 332 yards per game, two of which were against bottom-10 offences this season.
As for the Chargers, what looked to be a promising start and a Herbert-led MVP campaign the first couple of weeks has now spiraled out of control with a plague of injuries and a now non-existent backfield.
They still, however, boast a top-five offence and a top-15 defence this season. But trends have started to slip in the past four weeks.
In two of the last four games, Herbert has also been the team's leading rusher with 31 (vs Colts) and 60 yards (vs. Commanders respectively, three of the games in which neither Najee Harris nor Omarion Hampton was the running back due to injuries.
That's a recipe for disaster in any offence.
In the past three weeks, the Chargers' defence has given up an average of 377 yards and 30.6 points per game. Now compare that to their first three weeks, when the averages were 276.6 yards and 16.6 points.
And you can't make excuses with the teams they faced either.
In the first three weeks, they faced two upper-half offences and one bottom-half, the same as they had the previous three weeks, with a 17th-ranked Giants offence in between them.
So, what's going to give for either side and which one is bound to hold up in the end? We could be in for another fantastic Thursday night or perhaps an ugly one.
Injury Reports
(*LP = Limited Participant in practice, *DNP = did not practice, *FP = full participant in practice)
For the Vikings' injury report, running back Aaron Jones will be suiting up for Thursday night's matchup against the Chargers. It will be his first game since Week 2 against the Falcons.
Fullback C.J. Ham and linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel are both out.
Tackles Christian Darrisaw (*DNP) and Brian O'Neill (*LP), along with running back Zavier Scott (*LP), are all questionable.
Defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and offensive lineman Donovan Jackson are both active.
As for the Chargers' injury report, tackle Joe Alt is active for the game against the Vikings.
Running back Hassan Haskins is out.
The following players are all questionable: DT Jamaree Caldwell (*LP), OT Austin Deculus (*LP), LB Troy Dye (*LP), CB Elijah Molden (*LP), and OT Trey Pipkins (*LP).
Guard Jamaree Salyer is also active for the game after two days of being a full participant in practice.