Though it isn’t as many points as last week
Going into their home opener against the San Francisco 49ers, the Minnesota Vikings found themselves as a home underdog against the defending NFC champions. This week, for their home game against one of the early Super Bowl favorites in the AFC, the purple finds itself in a similar position.
According to our friends at FanDuel, the Vikings have opened their Week 3 matchup against the Houston Texans as a 2.5-point underdog on their home turf. The over/under for this one has opened at 46.5 points.
This looks to be a very good matchup against two teams that have both started the season with 2-0 marks. They’re also the top two teams in the league after two weeks in terms of quarterback sacks, as the Vikings have tallied 11 quarterback takedowns thus far while the Texans have recorded nine.
The Vikings will be keeping their eyes on the injury statuses of some key players in this one. Justin Jefferson suffered a quad contusion in the fourth quarter but says he’ll be good to go by Sunday, while Jordan Addison will be attempting to come back from the ankle issue that caused him to miss the victory over San Francisco. Rookie linebacker Dallas Turner is also dealing with a knee issue but Kevin O’Connell was optimistic about his chances to play in his Monday press conference.
This game will also see a host of former Vikings making their return to U.S. Bank Stadium, as there are four former Vikings now calling Houston home: wide receiver Stefon Diggs, linebacker Danielle Hunter, running back Cam Akers, and cornerback Kris Boyd. This will be Diggs’ second shot at the Vikings since leaving Minnesota ahead of the 2020 season, as he was on the Buffalo Bills’ team that lost in crazy fashion to the Vikings in Buffalo in 2022.
There are also a couple of former Texans getting a chance to face their former team in purple, as linebackers Jonathan Greenard and Blake Cashman starred for Houston last year but both made their way to Minnesota this past offseason.
Hopefully this matchup will live up to the hype it will likely get over the course of this week. Unless things drastically shift over the next few days, however, it looks like the Vikings will be playing the role of underdog for the second straight week.
