NFL 2025 Week 8 TNF

Thursday Night Football – Contest Entry

The Vikings are on the road once again, this time flying west to visit Los Angeles on a short week. The Chargers have done a lot of traveling themselves this season, but at least they were home last week. Both teams have been dealing with injuries, unfortunately for Minnesota it’s been to the most important position, quarterback. QB Wentz has not performed as well as Darnold did last season in this offense. It makes sense to take McCarthy’s return slow, he’s already missed one season, lets no prolong another injury. Not like McCarthy was performing much better than Wentz has. Outside of 1 quarter in the opening game, strong quarterback play has eluded the Vikings this year.

I don’t normally play Thursday Night Football in contest play since it requires submitting all 5 picks in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday. However, with 6 teams on bye, and a shitty slate of games to choose from, my hand has been forced. It also helps that the New Mexico model has an opinion on this game, and like the Los Angeles Chargers.

Here is a look at the contest lines for the Chargers in their week 8 matchup against the Vikings.

Team	Circa line	DraftKings line	SuperContest line
LA Chargers	-3	-2.5	-3.5

I’m not sure if the system likes the Chargers or it dislikes the Vikings. This is the second week in a row that the model has recommended fading the Vikings. I thought it was a play on the Eagles, again, but starting to think otherwise. The Vikings defense has been playing great, but the offense not so much. QB Wentz seems to fold under pressure, and the Vikings are struggling in red zone touchdown rate. It’s good they are finishing drives with a kick, but it would be better if they finished in the end zone. The Chargers defense hasn’t been that great this season, but they’ve also played a difficult schedule.