Bills Vikings Betting – Two Languishing Teams Hope To Improve
The Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings won’t be in the 2010 NFL playoffs, but they’ll try to move upward in the standings when they meet this Sunday.
NFL Betting: Buffalo Bills @ Minnesota Vikings Online Betting Odds: Vikings -6.5
Why To Bet On The Bills
The Bills can play with anyone in the league. This is a team that took both the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers – two of the very best teams in the AFC – to overtime. This past Sunday, the Bills had Pittsburgh on the ropes on multiple occasions. First, the opening kickoff of overtime featured a brilliant open-field run, but the return was cut short only because a blocker tripped up Buffalo’s Leodis McKelvin near midfield. Without tripping over his own man, McKelvin appeared headed for at least the Pittsburgh 30-yard line, if not a much deeper point in Steeler territory. Then, a few minutes later, the Bills stuffed Pittsburgh at its own 1 and were primed to get excellent field position off the ensuing punt from the Steelers.
However, Buffalo’s return man fumbled the punt, and though the Bills recovered, they lost field position. Nevertheless, Buffalo drove into Pittsburgh territory and had the game on its fingertips, but receiver Steve Johnson dropped a pass all alone in the end zone. Buffalo still got the ball to the Pittsburgh 36 and had a chance to kick a 53-yard field goal, but a three-yard loss on third down forced the Bills to punt. Pittsburgh took the ball and drove downfield for a game-winning field goal.
The Bills made tons of mistakes, but the point is that Buffalo constantly had a very good opponent under pressure this past Sunday. If the Bills can simply make that one extra play to finish a drive, there’s no reason they can’t beat the 4-7 Vikings on the road.
Why To Bet On The Vikings
The conventional wisdom suggested that last week, with their season in ruins at 3-7, the Vikings wouldn’t care about their game against the Washington Redskins. Instead, Minnesota – not elegant, but certainly energetic – delivered an inspired defensive performance on the road to turn back the Redskins, 17-13.
The Vikings’ defense smothered Washington, holding the Skins to just 216 total yards and only 29 yards on the ground. Minnesota clearly enjoys playing for new (interim) head coach Leslie Frazier and shows signs of eliminating the emotional toxicity caused by the stormy and divisive tenure of ousted head coach Brad Childress.
The Vikings were the NFL’s biggest soap opera this season as long as Childress was coaching them. Now that Frazier’s in charge, Minnesota can get back to the simple business of playing football, even though its playoff hopes are nonexistent at this point. As long as the Vikings play with passion, they should be better than the lowly and mistake-prone Bills.
How The Game Will Play Out
The Vikings will indeed play with passion, and a Buffalo team that tries hard but almost always shoots itself in the foot will find another way to lose an NFL game. This won’t be a blowout, but the Vikings will find a way to win by 10 points and cover the number.
Bills Vikings Betting Pick: Vikings
