{"id":318741,"date":"2025-01-03T11:03:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T16:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=318741"},"modified":"2025-01-03T14:49:01","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T19:49:01","slug":"vikings-vs-lions-best-bets-nfl-week-18-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/vikings-vs-lions-best-bets-nfl-week-18-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings vs. Lions Week 18 SNF best bets and odds: Back Minnesota to score, Jordan Addison to perform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NFL has saved the biggest game of the regular season for last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The pregame narrative:<\/strong> The NFC North and the conference&#8217;s top seed are up for grabs on Sunday Night Football when the Detroit Lions (14-2) host the Minnesota Vikings (14-2). Injuries have rendered the Lions&#8217; defence toothless, so I&#8217;ll back Minnesota to score and Jordan Addison to produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check out my Vikings vs. Lions best bets for MNF on Jan. 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vikings vs. Lions best bets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"cacheembed:105008\">Embed: #105008<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><strong>Go to full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/american_football\/competitions\/12295\">NFL betting markets<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Best Bet: Vikings over 27.5 points (+104)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Detroit&#8217;s defence is hanging on by a thread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unit has 13 players on the injured reserve, including Aidan Hutchinson, Carlton Davis and most of the linebacking corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unsurprisingly, the second and third-stringers have been getting torched. Look how Detroit&#8217;s defence stacks up against the rest of the NFL over the last five weeks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>31st in points allowed\/game (30.0)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>31st in yards allowed\/game (403.0)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>32nd in RBSDM.com defensive EPA per play (+0.192)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three of the Lions&#8217; last five opponents have scored 30-plus points. The outlying games were against the Chicago Bears, so I won&#8217;t put much stock into that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minnesota&#8217;s offence is a well-oiled machine peaking at the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Vikings have scored at least 27 points in five of their last six games (29.8 PPG average) and hung 29 on a healthier Lions defence earlier this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sam Darnold has thrown for 12 touchdown passes in his last four games while Justin Jefferson and Addison make for a borderline unguardable one-two punch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the climate-controlled Ford Field, I expect Kevin O&#8217;Connell to cook up a masterful game plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> The Lions allowed a combined 1,034 yards of offence to the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick pick<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Addison over 64.5 receiving yards (-114):<\/strong> Detroit will do everything it can to slow Jefferson, which should open up looks for Addison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second-year receiver is having a huge second half driven by a massive increase in target share:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First seven games: 4.7 targets\/game, 42.6 receiving yards\/game<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Last seven games: 8.6 targets\/game, 82.4 receiving yards\/game<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Addison has received at least eight targets in six of his last seven games, including each of the last four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I like this number against any team but it&#8217;s looking like a smash play against Detroit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lions have given up the most passing yards (1,570) with the highest passer rating (109.7) over the last five weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Picks made at 10:21 a.m. ET 01\/03\/2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NFL has saved the biggest game of the regular season for last. The pregame narrative: The NFC North and the conference&#8217;s top seed are up for grabs on Sunday Night Football when the Detroit Lions (14-2) host the Minnesota Vikings (14-2). Injuries have rendered the Lions&#8217; defence toothless, so I&#8217;ll back Minnesota to score [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":318750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[181],"class_list":["post-318741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-nfl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vikings vs. Lions best bets Week 18: SNF predictions | NSB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our Vikings vs. Lions best bets for Week 18. 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