Vikings vs. Broncos Point Spread: NFL Week 11 Odds, Prediction
The Broncos opened as 2-point favourites on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
A couple of weeks ago, I guarantee you that NBC was looking into flexing this game out of Sunday night even with the lack of marquee matchups in Week 11, but the Vikings are suddenly on fire despite playing without their two best overall players in quarterback Kirk Cousins and receiver Justin Jefferson, both out injured, while the Broncos are playing much better as well, so it will stay. Minnesota has two more primetime games scheduled and Denver has one on Christmas Eve.
We have to mention the weather forecast considering it’s Denver in mid-November, and it looks like it might be a factor later in the game with the current forecast calling for rain showers at times with a low of 34 at night – obviously, a few degrees colder and that will be snow. The chance of rain is 60 per cent.
Minnesota leads the all-time series 8-7 and won the last meeting 27-23 at home in 2019 but hasn’t won in Denver since Halloween 1999.
Minnesota Vikings
When Vikings star wideout Justin Jefferson suffered a fairly serious hamstring injury in Week 5 against Kansas City with Minnesota losing that game 27-20 to fall to 1-4, this writer absolutely believed the Vikings’ season was essentially over and that a potential trade selloff would be next. Instead, they have won five straight despite playing the past two also without starting QB Kirk Cousins, who is done for the season. He was off to a spectacular start and may have taken his final snap for the team as a pending free agent. Ahead of the Halloween deadline, the Vikings gave up a late draft pick to Arizona for QB Josh Dobbs, and he led a comeback win over Atlanta in Week 9 off the bench. That led Coach Kevin O’Connell – who is doing a stellar job – to name Dobbs the Week 10 starter, and he was great in a win over New Orleans with a TD passing and throwing. Dobbs absolutely belongs in the Comeback Player of the Year category already. It’s possible but not likely that Jefferson plays this week, while starting linebacker Jordan Hicks is out with a knee injury suffered Sunday. Hicks is a team captain, had started every game this season and played 98 per cent of the defensive snaps entering Week 10. In the wake of Hicks’ injury, the Vikings are planning to re-sign four-time Pro Bowl linebacker Anthony Barr.
Denver Broncos
Denver won its third straight game on Monday in a completely wild ending in Buffalo, 24-22. Let’s be clear that the Broncos were the better team pretty much all night but needed two Bills defensive penalties on the final drive of the game to win. The first was pass interference on a long third-down incompletion, and the second saw Buffalo flagged for 12 men on the field when Denver tried the winning field goal in the final seconds, which Will Lutz missed from 41 yards. He got a second chance with the penalty from 36 yards out and hit it, which was the NFL-record sixth walk-off field goal win of Week 10. The Broncos’ defence doesn’t look anything like the horrible early-season unit as it forced four Buffalo turnovers and has the No. 1 scoring defence in its three-game winning streak. Russell Wilson only had 193 yards passing Monday, his fifth game in a row under 200, but Denver is more of a running/defensive club now. RB Javonte Williams has been the centre of the offence during the winning streak.
MIN
DEN