One team will feel a little better about where the season is headed and the other will be in a big hole when the NFC North clash between the Lions and Vikings is done. Both teams suffered painful losses last week with the Lions blowing a big lead in San Diego and the Vikings getting embarrassed in Santa Clara. Detroit will need to reverse a troubling trend as it is just 2-8-1 ATS in the last 11 road games against division foes.
ODDS
Minnesota gets the standard field goal as the home team and opened as a 3-point favorite with a total of 44. The Vikings have been dominant at home when facing the Lions, winning 15 of the last 17 with the under cashing in 10 of the last 14 series games overall.
KEY INJURIES
Brandon Pettigrew – Suffered an apparent hamstring injury on the Lions’ final extra point, but the team has not disclosed the severity. On Tuesday the team had tight ends Bear Pascoe and Steve Maneri in for workouts, leading us to believe the injury may be serious.
DeAndre Levy – Is progressing from his hip injury but is questionable to play Sunday. Josh Bynes likely gets another start at linebacker in his absence.
The Vikings had no serious injuries from Monday’s game. Maybe they should have, at least it would have been an excuse for their poor performance.
KEY MISMATCH
The Vikings have been talking about being more consistent against the run all offseason. If anything, they looked worse than the team that finished 25th in run defense a year ago in Monday’s loss. The 49ers had eight runs of 10 yards or more, including touchdowns of 10 and 17 yards. Carlos Hyde ripped them for 168 yards and two scores, and overall San Franclara gashed the defense for 230 yards on 39 carries. The Lions will counter with rookie Ameer Abdullah, who scored on a 24-yard run on his first NFL carry and finished with 50 yards on seven attempts. Overall the Lions averaged 4.3 yards per carry, but had just 17 handoffs. Detroit will try to take advantage in the run game to possess the ball a bit longer than the 21:48 they had in San Diego.
KEY STAT
21:48 – Detroit’s time of possession in its opener. The Lions offense left the D hanging by not holding onto the football for a longer period of time. Detroit ran 21 plays in 11:30 over five possessions with three punts and two interceptions while San Diego was rattling off 30 unanswered points to get the win.
BETTING ANGLE
That wasn’t anything like what Vikings running back Adrian Peterson envisioned for his return to the NFL. Peterson, who missed the final 15 games last season, rushed for 31 yards on 10 carries in his first game since Sept. 7, 2014 in a Monday night loss on national television. He didn’t have a carry on the first series and had only four in the first half. His longest run went for nine yards. Peterson said expectations for the 2015 Vikings are still high, but coach Mike Zimmer said in his postgame presser that it’s possible his team isn’t “ready for primetime yet.” Perhaps it will be a different story in Peterson’s first home game since returning to the team.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
You just can’t gauge a team on how it performs in the preseason. Teddy Bridgewater and the Vikings looked like they were ready to be contenders in the NFC and they had the hype to prove it. Unfortunately, hype doesn’t win football games. The Vikings were outplayed, outhustled and outcoached in their Monday night loss, prompting Zimmer to say his team isn’t ready to be included among the elite in the conference. At least the Lions had a lead in their game, but they just crumbled giving up 30 unanswered points. So it’s difficult to predict what will happen here. The Lions will use Abdullah more in the run game against Minnesota’s shaky defense, but AP will find his legs after getting that first game out of the way and carry the Vikes to a home field win.
Minnesota 22, Detroit 20
The NFL betting lines for this Sunday game were first available at BookMaker Sportsbook. The Vikings were pegged as 3-point chalk while the total opened at 44. Live wagering during commercials offers adjusted moneylines, totals and spreads. Log in and start gambling during the game now!
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