New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings
The Giants finished the season series with the Commanders 1-0-1 with the win coming on Sunday night in Week 15. It was a big win for the Giants’ playoff hopes as they improved to 8-5-1 and moved into the sixth wild-card spot in the NFC. Minnesota has an extra day of rest here, having played last Saturday, pulling off the biggest comeback victory in NFL history, topping the Colts 39-36 in overtime after trailing 33-0 at halftime. The win clinched the NFC North for the Vikings.
It’s widely believed that the Vikings aren't nearly as good as their 11-3 record would suggest. I would argue that the Giants are probably a little worse than their 8-5-1 mark reflects. Interestingly enough, my first set of numbers this week actually makes the Giants 1-point favorites versus Minnesota.
Situationally, this looks like a good spot for the Giants. With three games remaining in the regular season, they can't afford many losses, if any, considering where they are in the playoff picture. Minnesota may be exhaling a bit after the monumental win on Saturday combined with the fact that it clinched the division for them. In addition, the Vikings have a division road game on deck at Green Bay.
The betting market has behaved in the direction of the Giants, too. The lookahead line was Vikings -4.5. The opener was 3.5 and most shops are now down to 3 with juice on the favorite. I don't have anything definitive on this game yet, but early on in my process, the Giants plus the points and the game going Over the total seems to make sense.