It’s a big divisional matchup in Week 8 as the Vikings and Lions meet.

Arguably the league’s best defense heads to Motown to face a beat-up Lions squad that comes in as a 3.5-point favorite, despite Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown popping up on the injury report earlier this week. Neither have an injury designation for this game.

Detroit did received some good injury news recently, though, with Brian Branch returning last week.

Lions vs. Vikings prediction, best bet

Minnesota needs to get its offense into form; its rated No. 2 on defense in DVOA, but a putrid No. 30 on offense.

That says a lot about Kyler Murray right now, who has been unable to let his top wide receiver, Justin Jefferson, cook. 

If there was ever a week to get him going, it’s this week, as the Lions allow 109 yards per game to opposing top receivers.

Minnesota is surprisingly undefeated at this point in the season, and its defense is more than strong enough to keep the NFC North leaders afloat when their offense sputters. 

Of note, Goff is among the best quarterbacks in football against the blitz and we all know that Brian Flores loves his blitz-heavy looks.

Goff is second in DVOA this year against the blitz, per FTN’s Aaron Schatz. 

Betting on the NFL?

The Lions win this game because I have zero faith in Murray to lead Minnesota, especially on the road, and Detroit has thrived at Ford Field in recent seasons.

For that reason, I’ll take the Lions -3.5 and Amon-Ra St. Brown to be the hot read on blitz packages, gobbling up plenty of passes.

PREDICTION: Lions -3.5 (-110, BetMGM) | St. Brown Over 7.5 receptions (+134, Kalshi) | Over 9.5 receptions  (+385, DraftKings)

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.