Packers vs. Vikings Point Spread: Sunday Night Football

The NFC North is sending both the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings to the post season, but the winner of this Week 17 finale earns the NFC North title, the no. 3 seed and the right to host a Wild Card game. The point spread is favoring the Packers at -3.5, and they beat the Vikings earlier in the season in Minnesota, but have been plagued by poor offensive play and injuries across the board. Could the Vikings sneak into Lambeau and take the division?

Sunday Night Football: Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings

Point Spread: Packers -3.5
Over/under: 45.5
Date: Sunday, January 3, 8:30pm ET
Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings offense has been far from perfect this season, but they’re beginning to gel at the right time. With the Packers’ defense depleted by injury, expect the Vikings to give Adrian Peterson ample carries as he looks to secure the third rushing title of his career. If the running game gets going early, it will open up things for Teddy Bridgewater to test his big play ability, something Minnesota has lacked from their second-year quarterback and would like to see heading into the playoffs.

Over the course of the season, several teams have given blueprints on how to stop the Packers’ once prolific offense. With that in mind, the +3.5 underdog Vikings are likely to send extra pass rushers frequently to take advantage of an offensive line that gave up nine sacks last week. Getting a few sacks on Aaron Rodgers will go a long way in keeping Green Bay’s offense from getting anything going. Add in a secondary that has begun to play exceptionally late in the season, and they just might pull off the upset.

Green Bay Packers

Surprising as it may be, the Packers’ defense has been their saving grace this season and will need to match their performance of six sacks and holding Peterson to just 45 yards rushing in their first meeting in November. The biggest factor lies in keeping Peterson in check and forcing the passing game to carry the offense. The defense needs to play well or they’ll find themselves down early with an offense that is not built to play from behind.

There are few answers for what’s going on with Green Bay’s offense, but there are clearly several factors at play. The offensive line is severely depleted due to injury. Without good play up front, Rodgers will find himself under the same constant pressure he was up against in Arizona last week. More importantly, Eddie Lacy and James Starks need to find the productive resurgence they saw against Dallas a few weeks ago. If these three are neutralized, it could be another blowout for Green Bay.

Sunday Night Football Prediction

One team trending upwards, another trending down. The Packers haven’t won a single divisional game at home this season and the Vikings are due for a win at Lambeau.

Vikings, 24-13