Vikings vs. Rams Point Spread: NFL Wildcard Odds, Prediction
The Vikings are short favourites on the NFL odds with a total of 47.5.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
There are two road teams favoured among the six games on Wild-Card Weekend: The Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday in Houston, and Minnesota on Monday in Los Angeles against the Rams. The NFL doesn’t want any teams on short weeks going forward, so this is the last Monday game on the schedule – remember, there wasn’t one in Week 18 of the regular season for the same reason.
It’s a shame for the Vikings that they have 14 wins and still play on the road in the opening round, but they lost out on the NFC North title and conference’s top seed on Sunday night in Detroit. No Wild-Card team ever had at least 14 wins before.
The North became the first division in league history with two 14-win teams, and the NFC is the first conference ever with three 14-win teams with Philadelphia as the third. The Lions, Vikings and Buffalo Bills all have at least 13 wins and this marked only the second regular season in league history to feature three 13-wins teams with no Super Bowl titles. The other was in 1999 when two of them faced off in the Rams and Titans.
To win the NFC, Minnesota is +750 and Los Angeles +1800. Including seven playoff meetings (but not since January 2000), the Vikings are 27-19-2 against the Rams. In Week 8 this season on Thursday night in Los Angeles, the Rams were 2.5-point underdogs but beat the Vikings, 30-20, behind four touchdown passes from Matthew Stafford.
Minnesota Vikings
This could be the final game in a Vikings uniform for QB Sam Darnold, the likely NFL Comeback Player of the Year, and Coach Kevin O’Connell, the likely NFL Coach of the Year. Darnold is on just a one-year contract and Minnesota selected QB JJ McCarthy in Round 1 of the 2024 draft, so he’s presumably the 2025 starter even coming off major knee surgery. O’Connell is under contract and the Vikings certainly like him, but there are reports other teams might make a huge trade offer for O’Connell.
Had the Vikes won in Detroit on Sunday night, they would have been the NFC North champion and conference’s top seed with a bye but they were outclassed, 31-9, to see a nine-game winning streak snapped. Darnold looked rather like his former bust self in completing just 18 of 41 for 166 yards. The Vikings failed to score a touchdown on four trips to the red zone, and Darnold finished with the second-highest off-target per centage of his career (34%). If he flops again here, then the Vikings don’t have to worry about any tough decision as they won’t try to bring him back. This is Darnold’s playoff debut. O’Connell, meanwhile, was a former Rams offensive coordinator under head coach Sean McVay. Minnesota is 4-1 ATS in its past five games.
Los Angeles Rams
Locked into the NFC West title, the Rams opted to rest many starters Sunday in a 30-25 home loss to Seattle to see a five-game winning streak snapped. The only thing that loss did was drop L.A. from possibly the third seed in the NFC to No. 4. Offensive lineman Rob Havenstein missed his second straight game due to injury but is expected back for this one. The team did lose third-round rookie running back Blake Corum to a broken forearm in the loss, but he only had 58 carries for 207 yards this year. Speaking of rookies, the Rams probably have the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in pass-rusher Jared Verse, who was named a Pro Bowler. It’s possible that safety John Johnson III and linebacker Troy Reeder will be activated off injured reserve and play this week. The Rams are the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs after being at least three games under .500 in back-to-back seasons. They haven’t won a playoff game since beating the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI also in Los Angeles. The Rams are 5-1 ATS in their past six games.
MIN
LAR