NFL Football
2025-01-05 - Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NFL Week 18
Sunday 5th January 2025 - Scheduled 8:20pm
1:20am (British Time)
Preview
No one will have been surprised to hear that Sunday Night Football will conclude the regular season with the Week 18 game between the Detroit Lions (14-2) and Minnesota Vikings (14-2).
The situation has led to plenty of people talking about whether the NFL Playoffs need to be Seeded more effectively considering a team with fourteen wins is going to enter the Wild Card Round having to travel and as the Number 5 Seed.
Both the Lions and Vikings have so much to earn this week, but slipping down to Number 5 will make things much tougher when it comes to positioning a way into the Super Bowl.
The NFC North and the Number 1 Seed in the NFC is going to be handed to the winning team, which means a Bye Week through to the Divisional Round and an opportunity to host the Playoffs through to the Super Bowl and, perhaps even more importantly, earning plenty of rest and recuperation time.
For the losing team it will mean a road game either in Los Angeles, Tampa Bay or Atlanta and even winning that game would likely mean having to travel to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Divisional Round if Seeding is played out.
With that in mind, both Dan Campbell and Kevin O'Connell are going to be preparing their team to put in one big effort to secure the top Seed in the Conference.
Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings have been the surprising team of the season and they have found a way to win games even when in tough positions within games. They have maintained momentum and the Vikings have continued to surprise, while there were just 8 yards and 2 points between Minnesota and the Detroit Lions in one of their two losses this season.
In recent games the Vikings Offensive Line have not been able to get Aaron Jones going, but they could change that against Detroit's Defensive Line that have just had issues clamping down on the run.
The reality is that there will be a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Quarter Back Sam Darnold, but it helps that the Quarter Back is surrounded by some big time Receivers. The injuries in the Detroit Secondary gives Darnold a huge opportunity to put Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison in routes that can challenge the Lions down the field and the Minnesota Vikings have to be very confident that they can move the chains with a lot of success.
Planning may be a little bit different for the Detroit Lions when they have the ball and they will want to lean on their big Offensive Line and not shy away from moving the ball on the ground. David Montgomery is set to miss out again, but Jahmyr Gibbs is more than capable of holding down the fort and continues to be a big threat coming out of the backfield.
Keeping Jared Goff in front of the chains is important to just ensure he is given enough time to find his own Receiving playmakers and the Lions have shown they have the Offensive power to overcome Defensive problems. The Quarter Back will be challenged by an improving Minnesota Secondary, but Goff will play with a lot of confidence after helping Detroit fight back in their win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.
There is so much to like about this game and the winning team may have the momentum to take into the Playoff that leads to an appearance in the Super Bowl.
Taking the points in what could be a game in which the winning team will be the one that has the ball last looks the right play, especially with the Vikings being as competitive as they have been all season.
Having a full Field Goal start is a huge boost and Minnesota might have enough to keep this one close, even against a very dangerous Lions Offense.
Prediction
Take the points with the road underdog in this crucial last game of the regular season.
The Pick :
Detroit Lions 28-27 Minnesota Vikings
