{"id":25228,"date":"2012-09-28T14:00:22","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T19:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=25228"},"modified":"2012-09-28T11:23:52","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T16:23:52","slug":"nfl-week-4-predictions-minnesota-vikings-vs-detroit-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-week-4-predictions-minnesota-vikings-vs-detroit-lions-25228\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 4 Predictions: Minnesota Vikings vs. Detroit Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions
\nSunday, 9\/30\/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Detroit -4.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Detroit -4.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 47
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 47
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford is expected to play through a hip injury in Week 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Minnesota has likely had this game circled since the 2012 NFL schedule came out, as the franchise was swept in this NFC North series for the first time since 1997 last year.\u00a0 The Vikings are still 3-1-2 against the spread in the last six meetings, but the locker room looks ready to go after last week\u2019s 24-13 win over the San Francisco 49ers as 6.5-point home underdogs.\u00a0 It\u2019s still important to note that the squad has lost its last 11 games against divisional opponents.\u00a0 \u201cWe just need to go to Detroit and get a win,\u201d stated Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier.\u00a0 Minnesota is 0-3 ATS off a upset win as an underdog.<\/p>\n

The Vikings are led offensively by quarterback Christian Ponder and wide receiver Percy Harvin, as they\u2019ve connected 27 times this year.\u00a0 Minnesota is still waiting for running back Adrian Peterson to work himself back into dominating form, but the rushing attack does have four gains of 20-plus yards.\u00a0 Minnesota may have a shot of snapping its losing streak in this series, as it has won 16 of 22 meetings in this rivalry when playing in September.<\/p>\n

Detroit has failed to cover the spread in its first three games, while it looks to snap a two-game losing streak, which includes a 44-41 overtime setback to the Tennessee Titans as 3.5-point road favorites.\u00a0 The Lions are allowing 31.3 points per game, as they surrendered a league-record five scoring plays of 60 or more yards last week.\u00a0 On the offensive side of the ball, quarterback Matthew Stafford is dealing with a hip injury, but has been upgraded to probable on the injury report.\u00a0 Detroit is 5-2 ATS as a home favorite of seven or fewer points since 2010, with the \u201cunder\u201d going 4-3 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Lions will need to protect Stafford from one of the best pass rushers in the league, as Vikings defensive end Jared Allen has gotten to him 6.5 times over the last two seasons.\u00a0 Detroit has shown glimpses of a running game with Mikel Leshoure, tallying 11 first downs on the ground last week, which was the team\u2019s most in that category since Nov. 25, 2010.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Lions due to their 4-1 ATS mark after a two-game road trip, while the Vikings are 0-6 ATS off a home win.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions Sunday, 9\/30\/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Detroit -4.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Detroit -4.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 47 Current Total:\u00a0 47 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Minnesota has likely had this game circled since the 2012 NFL schedule came out, as the franchise was swept in this NFC North […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[393,3326,542,616,73,2589],"class_list":["post-25228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-adrian-peterson","tag-christian-ponder","tag-detroit-lions","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-nfc-north"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25229,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25228\/revisions\/25229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}