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Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Minnesota Vikings Betting Preview

The NFC Wild Card race takes center stage this week when the Minnesota Vikings visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 11:00 p.m. EST. At home, the Buccaneers are favored by 6.5 points with an over/under of 52 points.

A month ago, Tampa’s spot in the playoffs looked secure, but that’s no longer the case. The Bucs lost three of four games leading up to last week’s bye. In fairness, they lost to the Saints, Rams, and Chiefs, with losses to Los Angeles and Kansas City coming by just a field goal. However, the Buccaneers have the slimmest of chances to win the NFC South and haven’t yet secured a Wild Card spot.

Meanwhile, the Vikings are moving in the opposite direction. After a dreadful 1-5 start, the Vikings have won five of their last six games to get to 6-6. Recent wins over the Panthers and Jaguars have been too close for comfort, but a win is a win. Minnesota is currently tied with Arizona for the last Wild Card spot in the NFC. However, the race is crowded, and the Vikings play a challenging schedule down the stretch.

A New Cousin

If you’ve watched Kirk Cousins over the last six weeks, you’d never believe it was the same guy who was utterly terrible during the first six weeks of the season. Cousins has thrown 15 touchdowns compared to just two interceptions in his last six games, coinciding with Minnesota’s turnaround. He looks comfortable throwing to Justin Jefferson, who has become a great complement to Adam Thielen. Plus, the Vikings still have a workhorse back in Dalvin Cook, who is averaging over 100 yards per game this season.

Such a balanced attack could create problems for the Tampa Bay defense. At times, the Bucs have been solid defensively thanks to an intense pass rush. But when that pass rush doesn’t get to the quarterback, Tampa’s secondary is getting eaten alive. The Buccaneers have been solid against the run for most of the season. But that doesn’t do much good with such a porous secondary.

Turnover Parade

Naturally, the Bucs hope that stops being an issue this week against a lackluster Minnesota defense. Even the lowly Jaguars moved the ball with ease against the Vikings last week. Ironically, forcing four turnovers saved the Minnesota defense. However, pressuring quarterbacks and creating takeaways are two things the Vikings have failed to do consistently this season.

Let It Ride

It hasn’t always been convincing, but the Vikings are finding ways to win games. With Cousins suddenly avoiding turnovers and Cook dominating on the ground, it’ll be hard for Brady and the Bucs to get much separation in this game even if they don’t get another win; bet on the Vikings beating the 6.5-point spread.

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