by Ian S. Palmer
The Seattle Seahawks are on the road this Sunday, December 6 when they head to Minnesota to take on the Vikings at the TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. If the postseason kicked off before week 13, the Seahawks and Vikings would be an NFC wildcard matchup, making this a possible playoff preview. The Seahawks climbed into a wildcard spot last weekend with their 39-30 home victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They’re 6-5 on the season and in second place in the NFC West Division. The Vikings lead the NFC North with their mark of 8-3 after downing the Atlanta Falcons 20-10 in week 12 action.
Seahawks vs Vikings – bet365 NFL BETTING LINE:
- bet365 currently lists the Vikings at -1 at 20/21 with the Seahawks +1 at 20/23 and the over/under at 41.5 points at 10/11 each
Seahawks vs Vikings – Betting Trends
Seattle Seahawks:
- Season record: 6-5 straight up, 4-6-1 against the spread
- Seattle is 4-8-2 against the spread in their last 14 games
- Seattle is 4-1 straight up in their last 5 games
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of Seattle’s last 7 games
Minnesota Vikings:
- Season record: 8-3 straight up , 9-2 against the spread
- Minnesota is 9-1 against the spread in their last 10 games
- Minnesota is 6-1 straight up in their last 7 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Minnesotas last 5 games
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The Seahawks haven’t lived up to their reputation this season as the defense has been weaker and Marshawn Lynch is sidelined with an injury. They got into a shootout with the Steelers last week, but managed to come out on top. It was Seattle’s first win against a plus .500 team this season as they were beaten by Carolina, Arizona, Cincinnati and Green Bay, who all had a winning record when they met. Quarterback Russell Wilson had a career-best five touchdowns and 345 yards in the air against Pittsburgh while Doug Baldwin had 145 yards on six receptions and scored three touchdowns.
The Seattle offense has been playing better recently with an average of 33 points on the scoreboard in their past three contests. They’ve needed those points though since the defense has been leaky lately. Minnesota’s aerial attack isn’t the greatest so the Seahawks stack up well against them. Also, the team’s run defense has been playing well and could give the Vikings’ Adrian Peterson a bit of trouble while the pass rush goes after quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
There is some bad news in the Seattle camp though as Jimmy Graham was injured against Pittsburgh and his knee injury will rule him out for the rest of the season. However, Seattle still has first-year running back Thomas Rawls to help cover the loss. Rawls has gained 290 yards on the ground along with three touchdowns in his past two outings and will be facing a weak Minnesota run defense.
The Vikings bounced back from their 30-13 loss to Green Bay with a win over Atlanta last week. The defense was solid and the offense scored all the points they needed to push Minnesota to 9-2 against the spread this campaign. Peterson ran for just 45 yards against Green Bay, but chipped in with 158 against Atlanta and added a pair of touchdowns. The Vikings’ defense held Julio Jones to 56 yards on five receptions and intercepted quarterback Matt Ryan twice. Peterson will need to be at his best against Seattle. He’s ran for more than 120 yards in three out of his past four games and added five touchdowns. He knows the Seattle run defense hasn’t been at its best and could give the visitors some problems on Sunday.
Sophomore quarterback Bridgewater might prefer a running game this week and rely on his defense to keep things close. The Vikings’ defense has conceded just 17.6 points against per game on average this year and will be hard for Seattle to break down. This should be a close game and a tough one to call, but Seattle has the talent to pull out a huge road win.