Minnesota Vikings v. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS -7
Over/Under: 44.5
This week’s best bets will be a little different. We’ll just pick each game, maybe some first-half and team total bets, and any teasers will be listed
Advice piece 1: Don’t let last week affect this week’s picks. There’s been a lot of buzz about how Minnesota looked very good in their upset over the Saints last week. Kirk Cousins finally got the big-game monkey off his back. The Vikings went into New Orleans and won so they can definitely go into San Francisco and beat a Niners team that doesn’t have a ton of playoff experience.
Well, San Franciso lost three games this year. They lost to the Seahawks by three in overtime. They lost by three at Baltimore on a last-second field goal. They lost by seven to the Falcons in a weird game — and by the way, that seven was really one point because the Falcons scooped and scored on the final play of the game. That’s right. San Francisco is good at playing football, folks. They take a week off and suddenly we forgot about that, apparently.
The Niners have the coaching edge where Kyle Shanahan is one of the top coaches in the league and Mike Zimmer makes some questionable decisions. That’s where this game could be decided. If Shanahan can scheme up easy throws from Garoppolo, watch out. Per Warren Sharp, the Vikings are one of the worst teams against 21 personnel. The Niners play a ton of 21 personnel. Look for San Francisco to attack Anthony Barr as much as possible. When they aren’t attacking Barr in the passing game, expect them to run behind George Kittle — especially if Minnesota plays three safties instead of three linebackers.
Do we really expect Kirk Cousins to string together two big games against two good teams in a row? I’m not getting carried away with the Vikings.
Picks:
San Francisco 49ers -7 over Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings Team Total Under 17.5
San Francisco 49ers -3.5 First Half Line