Oddsmakers Don’t Favor the Vikings Early in the Season
The Minnesota Vikings and their fanbase are hoping for a much better go of things during 2022 than they’ve seen in recent years. The Vikings recorded a 7-9 record in 2020 and an 8-9 record in 2021, missing out on the playoffs by a single game in each year.
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This prompted the franchise to fire both head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman. In their stead, they’ve brought in former LA Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell as head coach and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as the GM. The franchise has also made an effort to bring in more talent on the defense, specifically with free agent signings Za’Darius Smith, Harrison Phillips, and Jordan Hicks.
Despite all these changes that hopefully make the team better, oddsmakers are still fading the Vikings in many of their early season games. Looking at BetOnline.ag, the Vikings are underdogs in four of their first six games. The only games where they are favored are against their division rivals, the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. Here’s a look at each week’s spread leading up to the bye:
- Week 1 vs GB (+1.5)
- Week 2 @ PHI (+3)
- Week 3 vs DET (-7.5)
- Week 4 @ NO (+2)*
- Week 5 vs CHI (-8)
- Week 6 @ MIA (+2)
*: Game played in London
If the oddsmakers are in fact correct about this, the Vikings would start their 2022 campaign at 2-4. Less than ideal for a team hoping to compete for a deep playoff run. In fact, Per Stathead, there have been 211 teams that started 2-4 since 1990. Only 22 of them made the playoffs, or 10.4%. None of them made the Super Bowl, and only four made it to the conference championship round. The 2021 San Francisco 49ers are actually one of the teams to make it that far, and the 2019 Tennessee Titans pulled off the feat as well.
The Vikings begin their regular season on September 11th by hosting the Green Bay Packers.
