Lions vs. Vikings Prediction
Can the Detroit Lions go on the road and sneak past the short-handed Minnesota Vikings when the two teams meet up today at 1PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Vikings are favored at home in this game, as Minnesota is getting odds of -2.5 points against the Lions. The over/under total for the contest is listed at 42.5 points. Detroit won and covered the spread in both meetings last season. Today’s game takes place from U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The game will air live on FOX.
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Minnesota is coming off a 34-17 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home last week. The Vikings are 2-1 on the season as well and 2-1 against the spread. Minnesota has been led by its defense once again, allowing just 20.7 points and 350 yards per game. Everson Griffen is leading the defensive unit with four sacks. On offense, Minnesota is averaging 24 points and 409 yards per game. The team has been without Sam Bradford the last two weeks due to a knee injury and he will be out again today as well. Case Keenum has started in his place and thrown for 536 yards with three touchdowns over two games. Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are both off to big starts. Each is just under 300 yards receiving while Diggs has four touchdowns. In the backfield, rookie Dalvin Cook has run for 288 yards and one score.
Detroit is coming off a controversial 30-26 loss at home to the Falcons last week to fall to 2-1 on the season, the Lions are 2-1 against the spread, playing as an underdog in every game thus far. The Detroit defense has been pretty solid, allowing just 21 points and 353 yards per game. The unit already has seven interceptions this season with Glover Quin and Darius Slay each picking up two. The unit is also hoping to get back rookie linebacker Jarrad Davis, who missed last week with a concussion and his absence was felt in defending the run. The Detroit offense is averaging 28.3 points and 323 yards per game. The Lions continue to struggle to produce a steady run game, as Ameer Abdullah has just 163 yards on 46 carries. Matthew Stafford has thrown for 678 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception to lead the offense.
Stafford doesn’t have a good history of winning road games against winning teams, but the Lions seem like a different team this year. Detroit has been able to make big plays on defense while doing enough behind Stafford to win. Even last week saw the Lions take a lead on Atlanta with 8 seconds left, only to have the refs take it away. Detroit has a belief this year and I think its defense will cause a lot of problems for Case Keenum while Stafford manufactures a few scoring drives to lead his team to a win.
NFL WEEK 4 PREDICTION: DETROIT LIONS +2.5