Vikings vs. Lions Point Spread: NFL Week 18 Odds, Prediction
The Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions close out their regular seasons in another meaningful divisional clash this Sunday. Two weeks ago the Lions clinched their first division title in nearly 30 years by winning at Minnesota, one of the Vikings three straight losses to drop them to 7-9 and outside the playoffs. Minnesota isn’t eliminated heading into this Sunday, but in order to get in they need not only a win but several other teams to lose too.
And the Vikings can’t seem to figure out who they want under centre, switching quarterbacks five times this season since the season-ending injury to Kirk Cousins. In Minnesota’s likely final game this season, they’re rolling with Nick Mullens under centre.
Kickoff at Ford Field Sunday goes at 1 p.m. EST with Detroit a 5.5-point favourite at home and the total at 46 on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
As usually is the case when it comes to divisional play, only one of the past six Vikings–Lions battles has been decided by more than single digits. And Detroit’s covered the spread in all six of those games, including winning 30-24 at Minnesota on Christmas Eve.
Head-to-head the Vikings are still 9-3 outright in their last 12 meetings with Detroit. But these aren’t same old Lions, hence the division title and recent road win against Minnesota. The over’s hit in six of these teams last seven meetings, and five of the last six times the Vikings and Lions have played at Detroit. The Lions have the fifth highest scoring offence at 26.9 points per game. Minnesota’s allowed a minimum of 27 points in all of their last three games.
Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota’s unexpected quarterback carousel began with a season-ending injury to Kirk Cousins, and now it’s continuing because of turnovers. Josh Dobbs was the answer for three weeks, but a four-interception game followed by a shutout forced the Vikings to go to Nick Mullens. Then Mullens turned the ball over six times in two games and Jaren Hall became next up. But after last week’s 33-10 beatdown against Green Bay with Hall, Minnesota had no choice to go back to Mullens — the only post-Cousins QB to at least be able to score with Minnesota.
Minnesota’s hurting (literally) elsewhere too, as cornerback Byron Murphy sat out practice Wednesday which doesn’t help a struggling Vikings pass defence. Tight end T.J. Hockenson is also out for the season with a knee injury, and his first absence last week was definitely felt.
Detroit Lions
For all intensive purposes, Detroit got screwed out of a massive road win at Dallas last Saturday. For a minute it appeared that Dan Campbell’s infamous aggressive was the prevailing factor, as down 20-19 late he of course went for the two-point convert; a convert that was successful via a completion to an offensive lineman only for the refs to apparently mess up his eligibility status. So the Lions failed on the re-try and fell to 11-5, keeping them in the third place behind Dallas.
But if you’re counting moral wins, Detroit proved they can play with a team like the Cowboys on the road — an opponent that’s realistically coming in the post-season if Detroit’s to make a run. But as for this week, it’s another test in its own to see how the Lions respond.