The New York Giants (9-7-1) make their 1st playoff appearance since the 2016 season when they face the Minnesota Vikings (13-4) Sunday at US Bank Stadium. Kickoff is at 4:30 ET (FOX). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s'lines around the Giants vs. Vikings odds, and make our expert NFL picks and predictions.
It seems that everyone and his brother is jumping on the Giants’ bandwagon because history shows at least 1 lower-seeded team wins in the wild-card round every year. This fails to take into account that, after a 6-1 start, the Giants went 3-6-1 in their final 10 games — with their 3 wins coming against the Houston Texans, Washington Commanders and Indianapolis Colts, who had a combined record of 15-33-3.
The Vikings finished with 13 wins for only the 2nd time since 1998. However, it isn’t how many games the Vikings have won, it’s how they’ve won. The Vikings finished 11-0 in 1-score games, but their 4 losses came by 17, 37, 11 and 24 points — which explains how a 13-4 team could be outscored (424-427).
Minnesota’s M.O. has been to keep games close and win in the 4th quarter — the Vikings have outscored opponents 175-91 in the 4th quarter and overtime. The Vikings beat the Gianst 27-24 in Week 16.