Minnesota Vikings at San Fransisco 49ers
- Spread: Vikings +7
- Over/Under: 44.5
- Sat, 4:35 PM
I Didn’t see the Vikings doing that to New Orleans, though I shouldn’t have been surprised by their performance. The Vikings rely on defense and pounding the ball, so if the opposition is even a little off in the passing game and can’t get consistent pressure downfield, then the Vikings have a decent chance of winning outright. The thing is, if you’re getting ready to back Minnesota in this one just remember how the Vikings offense spent a vast majority of the second half in New Orleans acting like they wanted to give the game to the Saints.
Mike Zimmer is a fine coach and brings discipline and order to his teams, but he has to be willing to put his foot on the opponent’s throat and take the game away. If he trusts Cousins to get a couple first downs in the fourth quarter than no one is talking about New Orleans supposedly getting screwed on a non-call (Rudolph’s alleged push off) for the second year in a row.
The Niners are coming in hungry and hot and well-rested.
They haven’t played a playoff game in years and are coming off an impressive 13-3 season when everyone had them pegged as maybe a four-win team. Even more impressive is that they did this in a dominant fashion. Not as dominant as Baltimore, but the Niners have a +169-point differential on the season. They’re hungry, better in pass blocking than New Orleans, and have as many as four starting caliber running backs. Also, accounting for George Kittle is going to be a challenge. I’m not the biggest fan of Jimmy G. Yet. If he comes through with a big performance here, and I think he will, the Niners are going to be very happy they gave him a big contract.
I don’t think the Vikings match up well against the Niners and it’s really hard for mediocre teams to string together two straight perfect game plans. It’s not out of the question, but the Niners are 7-1 at home SU and 6-2 ATS. Minnesota’s run stops in Santa Clara, but the number might be a little high. That being said, I can’t bring myself to fade the Niners unless they are laying more than eight points. One last thing, Kirk Cousins is going to be relied on to produce another strong performance while Zimmer insists on handing off to Dalvin Cook on third down. Keep that in mid.
THE PICK: 49ers -7 at Pointsbet NJ
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