The Chargers improved to 5-3 after Thursday night's 37-10 win over the Vikings.
The Bolts are back on the road this Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Kickoff from Nashville is at 10 a.m. PT.
Here are three key Chargers stats ahead of Week 9.
1. Oronde Gadsden is on fire
It's official: Oronde Gadsden is a star.
The Chargers rookie tight end had another big game Thursday night by catch five passes for 77 yards and a score. He's now caught a touchdown in back-to-back games from Justin Herbert.
Gadsden's longest play in Week 8 was a 40-yard receptions. If you add in his 53-yard catch against the Colts in Week 7, the rookie is now the only tight end in the NFL this season with multiple 40-yard receptions. Gadsden is the only Chargers rookie to accomplish the feat since 2000.
The 2025 fifth-round pick is also one of just three tight ends to record consecutive games with 75 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Gadsden has been on a tear of late with 309 receiving yards in his past three games. He is the third rookie tight end since 1970 to have 300-plus receiving yards across a three-game span.
2. Another record for Herbert
The records keep adding up for Herbert.
Already the NFL record holder for having the most through completions through the first five seasons of a career, Herbert pushed that mark to six seasons on Thursday night.
His first completion of Week 8 gave him 2,129 completions, which surpassed Peyton Manning's mark of 2,128. Herbert now has 2,146 career completions entering Week 9.
Herbert, by the way, continues to play at an MVP-type level as the Chargers sit at 5-3.
The quarterback's overall Pro Football Focus grade is 90.0, which ranks third among quarterbacks and 17th among all NFL players so far this season.
According to PFF, Herbert has also committed just five turnover-worthy plays, as that rate of 1.4 is tied for the second-lowest among all quarterbacks.
And, just for fun, Herbert has engineered the league's No. 1 third-down offense at 48.67 percent.
3. Defense shuts down Vikings
The Chargers defense was electric against Minnesota.
According to PFF, the Bolts posted a defensive EPA per play of -0.335, which was their best showing of the 2025 season.
That EPA per play was also the second-best mark of Week 8 and the 15th-best mark of any defense so far this season.
The Chargers allowed a season-low 164 yards of offense, which was the second-fewest in the Jim Harbaugh Era.
The Bolts also limited the Vikings to just three conversions on 11 third-down tries.
On the season, the Chargers are tied for the best goal-to-go defense in the league at 54.55 percent, meaning opposing teams only score touchdowns a little more than half the time they get to a first-and-goal situation.
