The Minnesota Vikings Cover The Spread

As it stands for Wednesday morning, the Minnesota Vikings are 3½-point underdogs for Sunday’s potential game. That’s reasonable, considering the fact that the Houston Texans appeared to be rounding into form in the first half of last week’s Steelers game. Vegas oddsmakers might be forgetting, though: the Vikings didn’t look half bad, either.

This is puzzling to consider. Captain Kirk and his crew have lost three of their last four games in which the Vikings have scored 30 points or more. But, as evidenced by their 25.0 points per game average, they’ve displayed the ability to put up points in bunches. The Texans have not. For that reason, the underdog feels safe here.

There’s also sort of a reason Earl Thomas III had been swirling around the Texans’ rumor mill. This secondary has not only struggled to produce, they’ve struggled to stay healthy and productive. Safety A.J. Moore was placed on IR, and even when he’s been healthy, he and Eric Murray haven’t excelled as a unit.

Expect a closer game than Vegas anticipates this week. Houston is surrendering 31.7 points per game this season, the third worst in the NFL. Minnesota is very capable of winning this game, or, at the very least, making it competitive.