Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles

Written by Jack Jones

The Philadelphia Eagles (10-4) host the Minnesota Vikings (5-9) on NBC’s Sunday Night Football in Week 16. With a win, the Eagles can clinch the division after their improbable comeback victory over the New York Giants last week. Minnesota is guaranteed to finish with a losing record and their worst season in four years, and all that’s left to do for the Vikings is play the role of spoiler. NFL odds for this primetime showdown show us a line of Philadelphia -14 over Minnesota with a total set of 44 points.

The Eagles will be going for their fourth straight victory Sunday, and will likely be up against Joe Webb instead of Brett Favre at quarterback for the Vikings. Philly is position to win their division this week due to their 21-point fourth-quarter comebacks against the Giants last week. Trailing 31-10 halfway through the fourth quarter, the Eagles reeled off four touchdowns in a matter of about eight minutes to steal the victory. DeSean Jackson returned a punt for a touchdown as time expired to give his team a 38-31 win.

Michael Vick had a great game against the Giants, throwing for 242 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for a game-high 130 yards and a score. Vick has thrown for at last two touchdowns in four straight games, and he has rushed for at least one score in six of his last seven contests. He is in the running for the league MVP award and helped the Eagles sweep the season series with the Giants to get them in this position. Vick is also the reason the Eagles have the top-ranked offense in the league, scoring 29.4 points and totaling 403.9 yards per game.

The Vikings do have a solid defense this year which has gotten lost in a down season. Minnesota allows 308.1 total yards per game and will need a great effort to even keep this one close. Minnesota is assured their first losing season since 2006 after their 40-14 loss to the Chicago Bears last Monday. They have now been outscored 61-17 over the past two weeks, also losing to the Giants 21-3 the week before. Brett Favre started against the Bears last week and led his team down the field for a touchdown on the opening drive, but would leave in the second quarter with a concussion trailing 10-7.

Joe Webb came in for Favre and went on to go 15-of-26 passing for 129 yards with two interceptions. He did rush for a 13-yard touchdown in the game, but the Vikings offense committed 5 turnovers as a team which really hurt their cause. Adrian Peterson was surprisingly inactive last week with a thigh bruise. Peterson has rushed for 1,149 yards and 11 touchdowns this season and remains questionable for Week 16. Rookie Toby Gerhart rushed for 77 yards on 16 carries last week in his place. No matter who suits up for the Vikings, they must find a way to get going offensively. Minnesota has totaled 300 or less yards of offense in five of their last six games. The Eagles have won five straight home meetings in this series, with Minnesota’s last win coming in 1985.

BetUS Projected Score: Eagles 29 – Vikings 15

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