Week 17 in the NFL 2023 season concludes in the NFC North where the season will definitely end in the Sunday Night Football for someone as the Minnesota Vikings host their rivals Green Bay Packers in a do or die clash.
These two teams sit outside the playoff zone looking in but they only need one slip up from above them to get themselves right into the mix with a win here. One thing we know for certain is the loser is done for the year.
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings were in a good position to at least get a wildcard in the NFC five weeks ago when they were 6-4 for their season. They probably still had their work cut out in order to make it to the NFC North title given the way the Detroit Lions have played this term but they were certainly in control of their own destiny for a wildcard spot. Four defeats in five since then though have seen them fade out of contention and now they need a lot of things to go their way if they are to extend their season.
Clearly the injury to Kirk Cousins certainly hasn’t helped the situation. It is never ideal to have a backup quarterback in under the intense pressure of the final third of the season, but they need to find a way to win close matches. While they have lost four of their last five, they have only been beaten by a total of 12 points in those four games. The reason they haven’t fared better is that they haven’t put up more than 24 points in any of those games and in a scoring league you need to be putting points on the board.
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Green Bay Packers
This was always going to be a tough season for the Green Bay Packers after the departure of Aaron Rodgers and plenty of offensive weapons that also left ahead of the campaign. A young side has been put out to try an emulate the stars and while they have performed probably better than most people would have expected them to, they haven’t been able to get on that real key run down the stretch and at 7-8 for the season they need probably too much to go their way to sneak into the playoffs.
Green Back have actually won four of their last six matches to go from 3-6 to 7-8 for the year and two of those wins were creditable ones over the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving and then the Kansas City Chiefs the following week but conceding 30 points to the Carolina Panthers last week was a bit of a concern, even though they had it in them to win the game. That is the second week in succession they have given up 30 points to a stumbling offense and the week before New York Giants scored 24 on them so they need their defence to come good again.
Betting
The point line for this one has been dropping ever since it was announced that the rookie quarterback Jaren Hall would be starting at quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings but I’m not so sure that is taking into account how bashed up the Green Bay Packers defence currently is and also the must-win nature of this match. The line is at 41.5 and the way that Green Bay have been shipping points recently that feels low to me.
We don’t know exactly how Hall will play but he was pretty mobile at college so he might be able to extend plays but he has a cheat code in Justin Jefferson to get him out of trouble against an injury hit defence. Justin Love has got better the longer the season has gone on and he has got enough weapons to target himself. This could get a bit crazy in the second half with the season on the line so despite the quarterback change for the Vikings I can’t help but be on the over here.
Tips
Back Over 41.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Sky Bet
