The Green Bay Packers go in search of the NFC North title and move one step closer to a first round bye in the playoffs when they make the trip to rivals Minnesota Vikings to round off Week 16 of the NFL season in the Monday Night Football.
The Vikings are playing to keep their chances of winning the division alive here and know that they have to win the game in order to take their hopes into next week. Matches between these two never need no hyping up but this one is set up very nicely indeed.
Minnesota Vikings
Given that at one stage they were 2-2 for their season, the Minnesota Vikings deserve a lot of credit to have improved that to 10-4 with eight wins from their last 10 matches, with the only defeats in that time coming to the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs, both of whom have better records than themselves, so there is no disgrace in that. They will be in the playoffs come what may, but they would love to take their chances of winning the division into next week.
The impressive thing in this run is that the Vikings have gone on a good run without some key players. Adam Thielen has missed portions of the season and now they are going to be without Dalvin Cook, which is something of a blow. Despite that they are sixth in the league in points scored and when you have a defence as good as theirs that is a good combination. It is now all about holding their nerve from here on in.
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Green Bay Packers
It has been a much better season for the Green Bay Packers than anyone could ever have envisaged heading into the campaign, even allowing for how good they’ve been in the recent past. Aaron Rodgers has been playing some excellent stuff, but the best thing about their form is they have not been solely reliant on him. They have won games with their running game and they have also controlled tight ones with their defence.
The remarkable thing about it is that the Packers don’t have anything like the array of offensive weapons that other sides have, indeed their opponents here have plenty more, but that has not stopped them. They have won their last three matches and look to be in the sort of form to go on and confirm the division either here or next week. Once that is done they will be looking to secure a top two seed and avoid action in the first round of the playoffs.
Betting
I’m with the Green Bay Packers here. Minnesota Vikings are in decent form, there is no getting away from that, but the one thing we’ve seen this season is that when they’ve come up against the upper echelon teams in the league they have been found wanting and that is what I fear is going to happen with them here. It might be that they are good enough to sneak home but covering a 5.5pt start is something completely different.
Green Bay have a good enough defence and a varied offense that can stay close here at the very least. One key difference could be that Dalvin Cook is out for the home side and he may well be a big absence to their offense. Just by the nature of the game and what is on it you would expect it to be very close throughout. That is exactly how I see it so I’m happy to take the Packers with the 5.5pt start they are in receipt of.
Tips
WON – Back Green Bay Packers (+5.5) to beat Minnesota Vikings for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
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