Detroit Lions vs Minnesota Vikings Picks and Odds Week 13

Detroit Lions vs Minnesota Vikings Betting Preview

WagerTalk NFL handicapper Andy Lang offers his Detroit Lions vs Minnesota Vikings NFL Week 13 NFC North betting preview. At the time of posting, the Vikings are holding steady as a 7.5-point road favorite at Detroit with the total sitting at 46.5 points.

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Detroit Lions vs Minnesota Vikings Predictions

• Minnesota Vikings -7.5 at Detroit Lions
• Total: 46.5 Points
• Detroit is 0-10-1 on the season, but 7-4 against the spread.
• The under is 8-1 in Detroit’s last nine games.

The 5-6 Minnesota Vikings travel to Ford Field for a divisional matchup with the 0-10-1 Detroit Lions. The Detroit Lions are the only winless team in the league, with their lone “bright spot” being a 16-16 Week 10 tie against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Minnesota Vikings are coming off a 34-26 loss in San Francisco and have lost 3 of 5 games since their Week 7 bye. The Detroit Lions lost yet another heartbreaker on Thanksgiving against the Chicago Bears. The Lions fought valiantly and led 14-13 in the 4th quarter, but ultimately couldn’t hold on and lost 16-14. The Lions also lost 19-17 in dramatic fashion Week 5 in Minnesota as Vikings kicker Greg Joseph kicked a 54 yard field goal with time expiring.

The Detroit Lions seem to fight hard on a weekly basis while ranking poorly statistically almost anywhere you look. The Lions rank 30th in points scored with only 15.8 points per contest and sit at 29th with only 305.4 yards a game. D’Andre Swift is going to miss multiple weeks with a shoulder injury and he’s by far been their most dangerous weapon with 984 all-purpose yards and 6 touchdowns. While Jamaal Williams is a serviceable backup he’s nowhere near as explosive as Swift.

Quarterback Jared Goff has been accurate with a completion percentage of 67.3% but averages a miniscule 6.4 yards per completion. Defensively the Lions allow 26.3 points a game which ranks them 27th overall. You have to give the Lions credit for playing so many close games. While it’s highly unlikely they go winless for the entire season, their lack of talent makes them hard to back on any given week.

The Minnesota Vikings have had an up and down season and if they have any post-season aspirations, they will need a victory over Detroit this Sunday. The Vikings are dealing with a running back injury of their own as it looks like Dalvin Cook will miss this game with a dislocated shoulder. However the Vikings are better equipped to deal with the loss as they have a better backup in Alexander Mattison.

The Vikings’ offense averages 25.5 points a game good for 10th in the league while ranking 8th in passing yards and 15th in rushing yards. Quarterback Kirk Cousins has done a magnificent job keeping interceptions to a minimum with only 3 while impressively throwing 23 touchdowns. Cousins has two dynamic wide receivers in Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen who use different skill sets to exploit opposing defenses.

Defensively the Vikings rank poorly in both points and yards allowed. They allow 25.1 points a game which ranks 24th while ranking 30th in yards allowed with 382.9 per game.

The Lions have kept games close and have an against the spread record of 7-4 overall and 3-2 at home. Meanwhile the Vikings are 6-5 ATS and 4-2 ATS on the road. Both teams come into this game missing their top running back. Minnesota is 6-5 in over/under ATS, while Detroit is 3-8.

The spread is set at Minnesota -7 with a total set at 47. These two combine for an average of 41.3 points a game, so the total is set 5.7 points higher. The Lions only average 6 first half points a game while the Vikings score an average of 13.9 first half points a game. The first half total is 23 and I’m going to make the under my official play. These teams are division rivals who are very familiar with each other and those games tend to be low scoring, especially early. I also think both teams play conservative early in an attempt to avoid costly mistakes.

Official Play: First Half UNDER 23

🏈 The Eagles dropped Game 1 of their New York back-to-back, losing to the Giants last week. Can they rebound with a win over the Jets on Sunday? @McInnispicks @BumpSports and @DrewMartinBets offer their thoughts.#TakeFlight | #FlyEaglesFlyhttps://t.co/ISabrhVil8

— WagerTalk (@WagerTalk) November 30, 2021

Detroit Lions vs Minnesota Vikings Analysis from The GoldSheet

Dan Campbell seems willing to try anything these days, even recently naming himself as the playcaller and demoting Anthony Lynn, though Campbell might want to reconsider after instructing Jared Goff to dink the Lions to death in a winnable Thanksgiving game vs. the Bears. Though, for those keeping count, Detroit has only dropped four spread decisions into December, which means the Lions have been a better wagering proposition than the defending Super Bowl champion Bucs, or, for that matter, the low-variance Vikings, who needed a 54-yard Greg Joseph FG on the final play of the game to beat Detroit 19-17 back on October 10. (The Lions have lost three times on last-play FGs, by the way.)

With a defensive front missing all of its projected starters, Minnesota can be vulnerable to a functional infantry, as the 49ers exploited last week, so getting D’Andre Swift (shoulder) back on the field after he left the Chicago game looms as important for Detroit. While still in the middle of the jumbled NFC wild card mix, the Vikings also haven’t had an easy game yet this season, and with the defense still hurting and now Dalvin Cook likely to miss some time with shoulder injury suffered last week as Minnesota blew another lead at San Francisco, we’re hardly excited about the prospects of laying many points with the Vikes. “Totals” alert–note Lions on 8-1 “under” run.

Prop It Up | NFL Week 13 Prop Plays

Thanks to the ever-expanding sports betting industry, there are now a variety of ways to attack the betting market outside of the traditional point spreads and totals. Professional handicappers Andy Lang, Matt Josephs and Andrew McInnis break down the NFL Week 13 slate from a prop betting perspective, with a focus on NFL player props, DFS recommendations and fantasy football plays to help you enjoy the football action from a different angle.

WagerTalk Live Odds Screen

WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the moneylines, point spreads, first half lines and betting percentages for all of the NFL Week 13 games, including this Detroit Lions vs Minnesota Vikings showdown, from your desktop or phone.

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