Not terribly surprising, I suppose
UPDATE: With the injury news surrounding 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey this evening, FanDuel has now taken this game off the board for the time being.
After a successful start to the 2024 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings will return to the turf at U.S. Bank Stadium for the first time (in a meaningful game) since January when they host the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2. Much like the last time these two teams met, the purple will go into this one as an underdog.
According to our friends at FanDuel, the Vikings have been installed as a 5.5-point underdog in early betting. The Niners have not yet played their season opener as of the time this is being written and that number is obviously subject to change throughout the week, but the sharps don’t think too much of the Vikings’ chances as things stand right now.
Of course, the sharps didn’t think much of the Vikings’ chances when these two teams met on Monday Night Football last season on this same field. In that game, despite being without wide receiver Deebo Samuel and offensive tackle Trent Williams, the Niners came in as a 7-point favorite and exited Minneapolis with a loss. Camryn Bynum intercepted Brock Purdy twice in the fourth quarter as the Vikings triumphed 22-17 in what turned out to be Kirk Cousins’ last full game as Minnesota’s quarterback.
Samuel and Williams will both be back for this one, barring anything strange happening when the Niners face the Jets on Monday Night Football this evening, but the Vikings are coming off of a very impressive performance against the New York Giants. The Vikings went into MetLife Stadium and walked out with a 28-6 victory, making them the only team in the NFL to not give up a touchdown so far in the season’s opening week.
The status of wide receiver Jordan Addison will be something to monitor during the course of this week and could affect that number as well. Addison suffered an injury in the Giants game to the ankle that he didn’t injure this preseason, and while Kevin O’Connell has expressed optimism that Addison will be back, nothing is certain yet. Of course, the Vikings played last year’s game without Justin Jefferson and wound up faring just fine.
What do you think about the Vikings opening up as the underdogs in their home opener, folks? Let us know in the comments section!
