Cincinnati didn’t show up in a 33-7 home loss to Chicago last Sunday. Minnesota was their own worst enemy in a 31-24 defeat at Carolina last week.
The Bengals missed RB Joe Mixon last week (concussion, check status) as he finally looked to be the guy to get the ground game going. Cincy averages only 79.4 ypg on the ground and face a Vikings team that had allowed only 77.7 ypg before getting blitzed for 216 yards last week by the Panthers. I see Minnesota’s run defense bouncing back in a big way this week as they don’t have to worry about a running QB like they did last week against Cam Newton. RB Giovani Bernard is more of a receiving back but he is the only Bengals RB to average more than 3.3 ypc. QB Andy Dalton had a rough game last Sunday and was replaced by QB A.J. McCarron late in the game. Dalton’s play has been better of late but he hasn’t been able to elevate the offense sans a running game. The o-line continues to have issues in pass blocking and have allowed 37 sacks on the year. The Vikings have 32 sacks and I think they will get good pressure on Dalton both inside and outside. WR A.J. Green is having another stellar year (65-950-8) but faces a big challenge in CB Xavier Rhodes, one of the top cover guys in the league.
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The Vikings offense shot themselves in the foot on countless occasions against Carolina. Dropped TD passes, dropped passes that ended drives and penalties foiled several scoring attempts. QB Case Keenum had another good game and his 2 interceptions weren’t all on him. He also threw 2 TD passes and scrambled for 40 yards and he’ll look forward to facing a defense that gave up 271 passing yards to rookie QB Mitch Trubisky last week. WR Adam Thielen continues to improve on a Pro Bowl season (80-1,161-3) and he should do well again this week. WR Stefon Diggs and TE Kyle Rudolph are other good downfield targets and RB Jerick McKinnon is a real threat out of the backfield. The Bengals gave up 232 rushing yards last week and have struggled against the run all year. RB Latavius Murray was shut down last week by Carolina but he and McKinnon should find running lanes this week. The o-line suffered some injuries last week (check status) but they should have some starters back for this one.
Public Money
In this week 15 of the NFL matchup between Cincinnati and Minnesota have the public leaning heavily to the Vikings to cover the 11 point spread at home with over 68%. The over/under bettors believe this game will stay under the total posted line of 42 with 66% on board.
