Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers Sunday Night Football Betting Preview

The Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers will square off on Sunday Night Football in the penultimate week of the 2021 NFL regular season. Green Bay is still in the running for the top seed in the NFC, while the Vikings are on the outside looking in the Wild Card race. And while these teams are in two different places in terms of their progress for this season, anything could happen in this rivalry game.

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings suffered a potentially back-breaking loss to their playoff hopes last week when they fell to the Los Angeles Rams. Minnesota’s defense couldn’t hold up at home against Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ offense, dropping Minnesota to 7-8 on the year. Now, the Vikings will look to get back to .500 before their final game, as they enter Sunday night against the Packers as 6.5-point underdogs.

Minnesota will also have to move the ball in this game without Adam Thielen to help them out. It came out after their loss to the Rams that Thielen would be shut down for the remainder of the season, which is a significant blow to the passing offense of the Vikings for their final two games. Against a prolific passing offense like that of the Packers, Minnesota can’t afford to lose the type of production that Thielen brings.

Green Bay Packers

Green Bay scored its fourth straight win last week when they defeated the Cleveland Browns on Christmas Day. The Packers only ended up winning by a field goal, but they led by double digits for much of the second half and were clearly the better team. Now, Green Bay has a one-game lead in the race for the top seed, as they control their own destiny for the NFC’s first-round bye.

For the Packers to have success in this game, their defense will need to play well, which they did not do in Minnesota in their first meeting. Green Bay gave up 34 points in a losing effort against the Vikings earlier in the season, and the Packers will need to do a better job against the unpredictable offense of the Vikings. If they cannot stack up more stops this time around, the Packers could lose their grip on the top seed in their conference.

Keys To The Game

The biggest key to this game for the Vikings is their rushing attack. With Thielen out in the receiving corps, even more, pressure will be put on the running game of the Vikings to perform. If Minnesota can chew up yards on the ground, and keep the ball out of Aaron Rodgers’ hands, the Vikings could upset the Packers for the second time this season.

Green Bay’s number one key to this game is their defense. But they will also need to be effective on third downs. Minnesota’s defense has been up and down all season, but the Packers could find themselves on the wrong end of a season sweep if the Packers can’t convert its third downs in this game at home.