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Vikings Packers Predictions

Written September 3, 2008 by Jack Jones

It’s going to be a great start to the Monday night football season when the Minnesota Vikings head to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers on September 8th at 7 PM EST in the first game of ESPN’s double header. The early oddsmakers at Bookmaker have the Packers slated as 2.5 point favorites with the total set at 38.

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Green Bay enters their post-Brett Favre with a national audience watching to get their 2008 season kicked off. It’ll be Aaron Rodgers trying to get this team back on the path that led them to a 13-3 season a year ago, starting things off against their NFC North rivals.

Rodgers spent three years learning from one of the best to ever step onto an NFL field, and the 24-year-old took over the reigns when Favre officially retired from the Packers in the offseason. He seemed poised and unfazed by the media circus that surrouned Favre’s comeback and now he has to deal with the added pressure of not only replacing a legend, but being part of the reason he was forced to go elsewhere when the team was reluctant to move him out of the starting role. He only has seven games of experience, but once the team decided that was the direction the team was going to take, not even Brett Favre could get them to change their minds. Monday’s game will be Green Bay’s first without Brett Favre since the 1991 season.

With Rodgers being fairly inexperienced under center, the team will most likely look to Ryan Grant to carry the load during the early going. He had a breakout year last season with 956 yards, even though he didn’t start until the middle of the season. What was most impressive about Grant was the way he tore up the Seattle defense in the Packers’ 42-20 win to start the playoffs. Bet the Green Bay -2.5 spread at Sportsbook.com using your credit card!

The Vikings were 8-8 last year and should have made the playoffs if it wouldn’t have been for a late season collapse, but this year expectations are high. Tarvaris Jackson is supposed to be improved, and he needs to be after ranking 28th in the NFL in quarterback ratings after throwing only nine touchdowns to go with 12 interceptions. He’s going to need to get going to open things up for the running game.

That running game is led by star Adrian Peterson, who took home last season’s NFL Rookie of the Year award despite battling some injuries. Peterson looked outstanding when healthy though, like when he put up 296 yards on the ground in a 35-17 win over the San Diego Chargers. However, it was just the next week that he went down against the Packers with a knee injury and even after returning for the last five games he just wasn’t as effective, only gaining 260 yards in those contests.

The Vikings are also excited to add Jared Allen to an already explosive defensive line. Now the Vikings should be able to get some heat on the opposing passers, as Allen led the NFL in sacks a year ago. If you like the Minnesota spread at +2.5, bet the game at Sportsbook.com using your credit card!

Take a look at our live NFL odds feed to get all of the latest point spreads from several top online sportsbooks.

For more on the history of the Vikings Packers series check out Book Scout lookout!