The Green Bay Packers visit the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night in a game that can be seen on ESPN. It is being touted as the battle for first in the NFC North, but the reality is that the Packers can lose this game and still win the division by beating Detroit next week. What the Packers are playing for is the No. 2 seed in the NFC and a first round bye in the playoffs. On the other side, the Vikings can clinch a playoff spot with a win on Monday. Let’s look at the game and NFL picks.
This NFL regular season game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings will be held at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota at 8:15 p.m. ET on Monday, December 23, 2019. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
We'll have NFL odds at BookMaker.eu available for every game of the 2019 NFL season.
Odds Analysis
Bettors have been taking the Vikings in this game. The number opened with Minnesota a 4.5-point favorite and after a quick move down to 4, the number has gone up, as the Vikings are listed as a 5.5-point favorite. The total on the game has dipped slightly from 46.5 to 46.
Mixed Motivations
The Packers can clinch the NFC North with a win, but as mentioned earlier, they can also win the division by beating Detroit next week. Green Bay is playing to get a first round playoff bye, and they want to make sure they host a playoff game, so they do have motivation. The Vikings are in a similar position, as they may have already wrapped up a playoff spot before this game begins. If the Rams lose on Saturday against the 49ers then the Vikings clinch a Wild Card spot. “Right now, what we can control is to win these next two games and see how everything pans out,” Vikings nose tackle Linval Joseph said to the media, “At the beginning of the season, we had a slow start and we didn’t handle business the first time around, so we can’t really dwell on that. We’ve just got to control what we can control.”
Vikings Offense Rolling
In their first four games the Vikings averaged just 21 points per game but in their last 10 games they have averaged 29.6 points per contest. It is worth noting, however, that the Vikings will be without running back Dalvin Cook on Monday. He is seventh in the NFL in rushing with 1,135 yards. The good news for Minnesota is that quarterback Kirk Cousins is playing at a very high level. He has thrown just three interceptions in the past 12 games. In his last 10 games, Cousins has a passer rating of 118.1, second best in the NFL and Minnesota is 8-2 in those games. “We’re definitely doing things that Kirk is really comfortable with, and it’s important as we put this thing together to have a scheme that plays to his strengths,” offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski said to the media.
NFL Trends
The Vikings are 6-0 at home this season and the average margin of victory has been over 13 points per game. The Vikings are 3-0 at home against the Packers since U.S. Bank Stadium opened in 2016. The Packers are 3-7-1 ATS in their last 11 games as a road underdog. The Packers are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 Monday games. The Vikings are 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 games as a home favorite. The Vikings are 2-11 ATS in their last 13 Monday games.
Looking at the total, the Under is 7-0 in the Packers last 7 vs. the NFC North. The Under is 4-1 in the Packers last 5 games as a road underdog. The Under is 25-8 in the Vikings last 33 vs. the NFC North. The Under is 8-2 in the last 10 meetings.
NFL Pick
I don’t know how the Packers can’t look at the schedule and realize that they just need to win next week against Detroit to win the division. I also think Minnesota is simply the better team. Green Bay has been winning a lot of ugly games this season and I just don’t see them winning at Minnesota. I will take the Vikings to get the home win.
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