The Chargers are at home for a Week 8 primetime showdown against the Minnesota Vikings.

Kickoff is at 5:15 p.m. (PT) from SoFi Stadium.

The Chargers-Vikings betting line shows the Bolts are the slight favorites for Thursday night.

Here are five final thoughts ahead of Week 8.

1. All about action

Khalil Mack doesn't want to hear much chatter right now.

The Chargers enter Week 8 with a 4-3 record, but the Bolts are also coming off a double-digit home loss and have dropped three of their past four games.

Mack, a future Hall of Famer, knows this is the point in the season where teams start revealing their true selves.

"At times like this it takes more than just talking. It takes a little more action," Mack said this week. "Just want to see a lot more action based things at this pivotal time of the season."

The Bolts will hope to get back on track on a short week.

Players and coaches said this week that they are glad to get a chance to rebound quickly, and on a national stage.

"You can get that taste out of your mouth sooner [rather] than later," Derwin James, Jr. said. "I can't wait to go get it right."

Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh added: "It's a one-game season. All your attention and all your focus going to the game you're playing."

The biggest storyline for Thursday night center around a Bolts defense that is trying to "reclaim our identity," according to Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter.

The Bolts have dipped in terms of both consistency and production over the past month and now get ready for a Vikings offense that features a bevy of playmakers.

Can the Chargers defense rise to the challenge?

"We're not where we want to be. We've had a couple rough games in a row," Minter said. "There's really only one way to try to fix it and that's to try and get everybody on the same page."

Minter later added: "I always look at myself first, always have, always will. I think everybody, to a man, on our side of the ball would say we all need to be better. It's really that simple."

Harbaugh added: "Guys are attacking it. The effort if there, the fight is always there. The never-give-up attitude, the personality of our team. Right back to work following the game on Sunday. Guys were getting after it. Looking at all ways to get better. More consistency, more trust. Not always trying to make the play. Everybody is wanting to make plays and affect the game, but just doing their job and doing it at a really high level."

With the halfway point of the season nearly here, a win means the Chargers will be 5-3 and firmly in the AFC playoff picture. But a loss drops them to .500 entering November.

Games between the Chargers and Vikings are always entertaining and oftentimes come down to the final seconds.

This one, however, feels extra important.

"It's about sticking together," James said.

2. A return for Joe Alt?

Joe Alt is officially listed as questionable on the Chargers Injury Report for Thursday night against Minnesota.

But the left tackle himself said this week that there's a strong chance he plays.

"That's the plan," Alt said.

Alt suffered an ankle injury in Week 4 against the Giants and has missed the past three games. He returned to practice last week on a limited basis but said this week that he's made plenty of progress.

"For me, it's been doing what I can off the field with the guys and the O-Line room making sure I'm helping them as much as I can," Alt said. "Then for me, it's just attacking every single day.

"Whatever I can do to the fullest of my ability and continue to see improvements every single day," Alt added. "That's the goal. It's been going well."

Alt's return would certainly be a welcome sight for a Chargers offensive line that has been up and down in his absence.

Of note, right tackle Trey Pipkins III, who has missed the past two games with a knee injury, is also listed as questionable to play.

In a perfect world, both Chargers starting offensive tackles would return in primetime.

"Joe and Pip, they've played a lot of football for this team," Zion Johnson said. "It's always great when you could get somebody back like that.

"Regardless of the challenge, regardless of who we have out there, what team we're playing, we're going to prepare the same way," Johnson added. "Put our all into each gameplan week, each practice and get the most out of what we can."

3. Locked in on Jefferson

Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley summed off the Vikings offense in only a few words.

"They're coming in with a lot of firepower," Henley said.

But there's little doubt who the main focal point is for the Bolts.

Wide receiver Justin Jefferson is on a Hall-of-Fame path in his sixth season. Simply put, he might be the best wide receiver in the entire NFL.

"Great player, great competitor," Harbaugh said of Jefferson. "The highest challenge."

Minter added: "If not the best, then one of the top guys in the league. Super productive. Playmaker."

Jefferson enters Week 8 with 34 catches for 528 yards and a score. The last time he faced the Chargers, Jefferson went off for seven catches for 149 yards and a score.

"He's a guy that gets extra targets," said Benjamin St-Juste. "He's a guy they are going to target in gotta-have-it moments.

"We're just going to have to try to take him off the gameplan, which a lot of teams try to do but it's not the easiest thing," St-Juste added.

Besides Jefferson, the Vikings offense features wide receiver Jordan Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson, plus running back Aaron Jones, who may return from an injury this week.

Addison has 18 catches for 283 yards and a score in only three games.

"Addison could probably be a No. 1 on some teams," Minter said. "Those guys make plays for their quarterback."

"They win 1-on-1 balls, run great routes, have great speed," Minter added. "A major test."

4. An exotic Vikings defense

It should be no surprise that Minnesota's defense leads the NFL in blitz rate at 43.6 percent, according to Pro Football Focus.

Ever since the Vikings hired Brian Flores as their defensive coordinator in 2023, Minnesota has topped the league in that stat the past three seasons.

"This defense we're about to get ready to play is a hell of a defense," Chargers Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman said this week. "They're a really good defense, extremely active up front. These guys run line games as well as anybody and their back end is really well coordinated, very rarely out of place."

Justin Herbert knows that as well as anyone after the last meeting between these teams. Back in Week 3 of the 2023 season, Flores dialed up a blitz roughly 80 percent of the time against Herbert and the Bolts.

"Back then, too, we figured we were going to get a lot of pressure," Herbert recalled. "I thought we had a really good protection plan and we talked about it all week."

Herbert and the Chargers offensive line was up to the challenge as the quarterback threw for a then career-high 405 yards, a number he only surpassed last week against the Colts.

What does Herbert and the Chargers offense see now from Flores' crew?

"They do a really good job getting after the quarterback," Herbert said. "They're going to bring a lot of pressure and have a really good front seven, really good cover guys."

Johnson said: "They bring a multitude of pressures, they're very exotic. It definitely takes a lot of thought and planning to go against a defense like that for sure."

Alt added: "Multiple fronts, multiple different looks. Sophisticated. We have to be on our A-game on communications as a whole offense, whole offensive line and making sure we're talking, seeing things together and making sure we can put our best foot forward presnap."

A player to keep an eye on Thursday is safety Harrison Smith. The Vikings veteran has a 55.1-percent blitz rate this season, according to PFF, but can also make disruptive plays when the ball is in the air.

"He's a very smart player," Herbert said of Smith. "He's been around for so long and has played at such a high level, 14 years.

"He's a true pro, an incredible leader on that team and someone you have to be aware of on the field," Herbert added.

5. Wentz to start for Vikings

Earlier in the week, the Chargers said they were preparing for both Carson Wentz and J.J. McCarthy to start at quarterback for the Vikings.

Wentz will be the guy as Minnesota announced that decision on Tuesday.

Minter said Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell will still run the same system with Wentz, who began the season as the backup.

"What they do with their offense, I would say, is very similar," Minter said. "With the couple game sample with J.J. at the start of the year and then what Carson Wentz has done, he's obviously played more football throughout his career and seen a lot. He's played well at times for them and has made some key plays."

St-Juste added: "The guy has a lot of experience. He's been playing for a long time, played some great ball in the past. He can make all the throws and he's athletic and has the ability to run the ball."

Wentz is scheduled to make his 99th career start on Thursday night. He'll face a depleted Chargers defensive line that is without Da'Shawn Hand and Otito Ogbonnia, both of whom are on Injured Reserve.

As a result, fullback Scott Matlock could see increased snaps on defense against the Vikings.

"It probably put more snaps on other guys ... really just shortened the rotation in that room," Minter said of the injuries up front.

He later added: "There certainly could be an opportunity for [Matlock] to get reps there."