Vikings vs. Titans Point Spread: NFL Week 11 Odds, Prediction
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Nik Kowalski
The 7-2 Vikings held their ground as the top NFC Wild-Card thanks to an ugly win at Jacksonville last week. The final score read 12-7 Minnesota with the total yards 402-143 for the Vikings as turnovers, red zone miscues, and a combination kept the score close — something elite Titans defence will try and replicate.
The 2-7 Titans may have their offensive woes, but they’re still a unit leading the league in yards allowed per game with 273.6. It’s historically bad special teams and incompetent offence that has Tennessee in 1st in yards allowed, but 29th in points allowed (26.7 per game) this season.
Factor all this in, and the over-under Sunday is down at 39.5, with Minnesota a six-point road favourite on the NFL odds. Kickoff at Nissan Stadium gets going at 1 p.m. EST.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Home field has been a struggle for the Titans, who are 1-3 outright and 0-4 ATS at Nissan Stadium this season. Tennessee’s failed to crack over 20 points at home this season, but it was all they needed back in Week 9 when they got their first home victory — a 20-17 overtime win. The number 17 has been a common theme for the Titans this season, as after last week’s 27-17 defeat at L.A., Tennessee has now scored exactly 17 points four different times this season.
Minnesota’s now won six straight games versus the AFC South. Eight of the Vikings last nine meetings with an AFC opponent has finished under the total, and six of Minnesota’s nine contests this season have gone under. With last week’s 12-7 victory, it marked the third time this season the Vikings have held their opponent to single digits. That’s trouble for the Titans.
Minnesota Vikings
Quarterback Sam Darnold is either in a funk, or is reverting back to his old self. One of Darnold’s earlier-career flaws that labelled him a bust of a third-overall pick was turnovers. Over Minnesota’s last two wins, Darnold has thrown five interceptions. Three came last week, which almost blew the 12-7 win at Jacksonville for the Vikings. All three interceptions last week were targeted for Justin Jefferson, and two came in the red zone.
Minnesota’s defence is why neither of these Darnold performances changed to losses. The Vikings rank third in the NFL with 17.4 points against per game and held Jacksonville last week to 3.3 yards per play and 10 first downs.
Running back Aaron Jones exited last week’s game with a rib injury, but appears to be fine for Sunday.
Tennessee Titans
Returning from a three-game absence (shoulder), quarterback Will Levis played a clean game last week at L.A. And that’s about all you can ask for at this point. Levis completed 18 of his 23 passes for 175 yards and two scores, without turning the ball over. Calvin Ridley’s Jekyll and Hyde season continued, last week with the good side as he scored twice on five catches for 84 yards. But while the offence play clean, Tennessee’s league-best defence let L.A. play clean too.
Tennessee failed to register a takeaway and got two three-and-outs. The former is no surprise too — the Titans rank 29th in takeaways per game, something that has to change when Sam Darnold’s Vikings roll into town. They won’t be getting star cornerback L’Jarius Sneed back soon either, as he’s still week-to-week with a quadriceps injury.
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