Denver Broncos vs Minnesota Vikings Point Spread Picks

A pair of teams that struggled defensively last season square off here. Denver's defense wasn't as good as expected, #20 in total yards surrendered, #16 in pass defense, and #24 in points allowed. In the first two weeks of their last preseason, the Broncos allowed 22 and 24 points in losses to Seattle and San Francisco. The 2021 offense has a QB battle brewing between Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock with preseason play and points determining the starting job. They face a Minnesota 'D' that was #26 in yards allowed, #24 in pass defense, and #28 in points given up. Coach Mike Zimmer is on a 7-3 run OVER the total in August action. In 2019, the Vikings four preseason totals ended up 59, 44, 29, and 50 points. And Zimmer's last two Week 1 NFLX contests have seen 59 and 70 points, and that 70 was against these Broncos in 2018. Play this game to go OVER the total.

The Denver Broncos went through a 17-season stretch of finishing at or better than .500 in 15 of them. They are currently just 3-6 and appear to be headed for their third straight losing season. The offense has averaged just 18.7 points per game in the stretch, and they are 14-23-4 ATS (7-13 ATS on the road). They have to now go to Minnesota with a backup QB to face a Minnesota team that is 5-1 in their last six. No team has been better than the Vikings covering games since 2014 as they are 57-31-5 ATS. They are also a scary 31-12-3 ATS at home over this period. They are also 24-5-3 ATS as a home favorite of less than -13 (11-1-1 ATS to a team .450 or below). Make the play on Minnesota.

The Kirk Cousins era begins at Minnesota and the Vikings look to improve offensively even though they still finished 11th in the league in yards gained.  Cousins has passed for at least 4,000 yards his last three seasons and he completed 64.3 percent with 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 2017.  The Vikings also signed Trevor Siemian, who made 24 starts for Denver and he completed 59 percent of his passes last season with 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Kyle Sloter was on the practice squad last year and the other backup, Peter Pujals, is a rookie from Holy Cross. Coincidentally, Case Keenum will make his first appearance with Denver against his former team and reports say he has looked even better in training camp than he was last season. Keenum had career highs in completion percentage (67.6), yards passing (3,547) and touchdowns (22) in 2017. Paxton Lynch started two games last season and was 30-of-45 for 295 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Chad Kelly is competing with Lynch for the backup QB job, but hasn't played after being drafted last in the 2017 draft due to wrist surgery. Coach Mike Zimmer does not hold back in preseason as he has won 14-of-17 games and there is a healthy quarterback competition with the backups in Denver. Look for this matchup to soar OVER the total.