Minnesota Vikings Touchdown Plus Favorites Over Carolina Panthers

NFL News - December 15th, 2009 - Written by John

Following a loss two weeks ago in which the media jumped all over Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre, the Minnesota Vikings responded and silenced critics with a 30 to 10 stomping of the Cincinnati Bengals, leaders of the AFC North.

Minnesota head coach Brad Childress insisted that the loss to the Arizona Cardinals, two weeks ago, was just a "pit stop" as he described to ESPN. This past Sunday seemed to validate Childress' analogy as his Vikings comfortably defeated Cincinnati.

With the win over the Bengals, the Vikings officially clinched a berth in the 2010 NFL Playoffs. With another win this week, Minnesota would clinch their second straight NFC North title, leaving the Packers to fend for a wild card.

Not only would the win secure their playoff future, it would also guarantee the Vikings a bye during the Wild Card round. However, at 11-2, the Vikings are still two games behind the perfect New Orleans Saints for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

On the other sideline, Carolina will play the role of spoiler this week. Any hopes the Panthers had of making the 2010 postseason are long gone now, but the Panthers will still come out and compete hard.

Coming out of last week, the Carolina Panthers continue to make headlines off the field. Following the loss on Sunday to the Patriots, Panthers' DB Chris Gamble insisted that Patriots' WR Randy Moss quit on routes early in the game.

"Some of his body language let me know it was a run, and that's how I got a feel on when to help out on the run," Gamble told ESPN.com. "I think if he came off the ball and had a little Wes Welker in him, you wouldn't know what was coming. That's what I think Moss needs to do,be like Wes and go hard every play. I'm going to respect him, and every other defensive back is going to respect him if he comes off the ball hard."

Despite the Panthers indicating that Moss allegedly quit, the Panthers still lost the game by 10 points and will need to regroup before facing a very good Vikings team.

In the loss last week, Carolina QB Matt Moore went 15 of 30 for 197 yards and a touchdown last week, but the Panthers will have to open up more of the offense more if they're going to generate enough points to hang with the Vikings.

The Vikings offense has too many weapons and is going to put points on the scoreboard. It isn't likely that Panthers' defense will be able to stop the deadly air and rush attacks simultaneously, something that 11 other teams have been unsuccessful at.

Carolina will have to rely on Moore's arm to give the Panthers a shot in this game.

As for this week, NFL Week 15 Betting Odds favor the (11-2) Vikings to beat the (5-8) Panthers on the road. Currently, Minnesota is listed as 8 point favorites. The over/under for the contest has been installed at a total of 43 points.

The edge on both sides sides of the ball however favor the Vikings.

NFL Betting Trends indicate that the Vikings are 4-0-1 ATS versus a team with a losing record; coming into the contest the Panthers are 5-8. The Vikings are also 5-1-1 ATS in their last five match ups versus their fellow NFC opponents; the Panthers are in the NFC South.

Conversely, Carolina is 4-0 ATS versus a team with a winning record; the Vikings are 4-0. The Panthers are also 5-0 ATS in the last five games they have played versus the NFC; the Vikings are in the NFC North.

Something has to give.

With respect to the over/under, the last five games for the Vikings have gone the under. Similarly, the last 4 games Carolina has played have gone the under.

Kickoff for this match up is set for 8:20pm EST and will be televised nationally on NBC's Sunday Night Football.