Minnesota Vikings and football betting

2007 Outlook

Key Signings: RB Adrian Peterson (draft)
Key Losses: DC Mike Tomlin, QB Brad Johnson, CB Fred Smoot
Key Player: RB Adrian Peterson, QB Tarvaris Jackson

Minnesota Vikings 2006 Review

2007 Preview: The Minnesota Vikings football betting offense was poor in 2006 but it should immediately improve as they stole Adrian Peterson in the NFL Draft. Peterson could be an immediate stud in NFL betting and gives the Vikings a great one-two punch with Taylor. The problem for the Vikings is they are placing a lot of faith in quarterback Tarvaris Jackson. The Vikings lost some football betting defensive strength when CB Fred Smoot was not re-signed. It will be difficult for Minnesota this season unless Jackson turns into a real NFL quarterback. Peterson will be exciting though and give Minnesota fans hope for the future.

The 2007 NFL betting schedule includes home/away games with their NFC North Division rivals of Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay. The Minnesota Vikings also have games against the AFC West along with the NFC East. The NFL betting schedule is not easy for Minnesota, especially a stretch early in the season where they face Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and San Diego in a four week period. The Vikings get one prime time TV game in 2007 as they host the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football on December 17th.

Offense: Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson started the last two games of the football betting season and the Vikings are handing him the starting job. He has a great backfield of Taylor and Peterson but very little receiving experience. It doesn’t help that the Vikings lost TE Jermaine Wiggins in the off-season and that they have no real threat at wide receiver. This affected the NFL betting lines as well.

Defense: On defense, the Minnesota Vikings had the #1 ranked run defense in NFL betting but they were #32 against the pass. Overall the unit was eighth in total defense only allowing 300.2 yards a game, and was fourteenth in scoring defense (20.4 points a game). The team has very little pass rush. Losing Smoot at corner will hurt and losing Tomlin as coordinator may be a lot more important than anything else.

Forecast: NFL betting on this team bringsthe question for Minnesota in 2007 will be whether or not Tarvaris Jackson is a starting NFL quarterback. The running game looks great but the receivers are unproven. The defense is solid but losing defensive coordinator Tomlin is a huge blow.