NFC Wild Card Game Preview: Los Angeles Rams vs. Minnesota Vikings
We will close out the NFC Wild Card games on Monday Night Football, with a matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams. This game will take place from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California with a kickoff set for 8:00 PM. This game can be seen LIVE on ABC.
The folks over at Nitro Sportsbook have listed this game as a toss up with the Minnesota Vikings being 1 point favorites. The total in this game is set at 48 points.
Minnesota Vikings Preview
Heading into the start of the season, I don’t think anyone expected the Minnesota Vikings to have the type of year they had. They went 14-3 SU and 11-5-1 ATS on the season under QB Sam Darnold.
They won 9 of their final 10 games with their 3 losses on the season coming against the Detroit Lions two times and ironically, this same LA Rams team.
Darnell is going to have to play better this week than he did last week because in the game against Detroit, he was NOT impressive!
The Vikings will be looking for a little redemption in this Monday Night NFC Wild Card game, as these two faced each other earlier in the season. In that game, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua returned from injury and had very good days. Kupp and Nacua combined for 12 catches for 157 receiving yards. That can NOT happen again here today and the Vikings Expect to win!
Los Angeles Rams Preview
The LA Rams enter this game with a 10-7 SU record and 9-8 ATS. They won 5 of their last 6 games, and that last loss against Seattle, we really dont count, as they had nothing to play for and sat the starters.
The Rams will be at home, and honestly that hasn’t been much of a benefit to them this year. They’ve gone just 5-4 at SoFi Stadium while Minnesota have been somewhat road warriors, going 6-2 on the road this year.
Los Angeles will be led on the field by QB Matthew Stafford. Stafford has thrown for over 3700 yards this year with 20 touchdowns vs. 8 INT’s.
Stafford does a great job at spreading the ball out with 5 receivers having over 30 receptions his year. His two favorite, are without question Puka Nacua, who has 106 targets for 79 receptions and 990 yards, and Cooper Kupp, who has been targeted 100 times for 67 receptions and 710 yards.
Handicapping and Prediction
The LA Rams rested many of their players in the final game of the season, smartly so, being the game meant nothing to them. The Minnesota Vikings on the other hand, had to play their starters, as they were playing for the #1 seed against Detroit. Detroit rose up and dominated the Vikings, which should leave a sour taste in the mouths of the Vikings.
There is also some revenge here for the Minnesota Vikings. They lost to the Rams in LA on October 24, by a score of 30-20.
We think this game ends up being a higher scoring battle. Both these teams have something to prove and we think the over is a good play but the better option for us is the team total on LA to go over 23.5 at Nitro.
Pick: LA Rams Team Total Over 23.5 Points
