‘Monday Night Football’ Wild Card Betting Preview: Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams

At each of the five Wild Card games that have already been played this weekend, the NFL held a moment of silence in honor and acknowledgement of the people affected by the fires in Los Angeles.

Monday’s moment at the game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams will be the most profound of them all, with many Rams players and staff directly affected by the fire.

Moving the Wild Card game from Los Angeles to Arizona is the least of the issues caused by a fire that has destroyed more than 10,000 homes and altered the lives of hundreds of thousands evacuees. Football is secondary, but also a welcome distraction. And it’s a time where the better angels of ourselves can come together, where rivalries are put aside.

The Arizona Cardinals are one such rival that has opened their home and their heart to the Rams. At the end of last week, they sent their two Boeing 777s to pick up the Rams players and staff, their families and their pets, and brought them to Arizona, where they were given complete access to the Cardinals training facility.

It’s a small gesture in the grand scheme of things, but it makes a difference. Every victory in the face of this catastrophe matters.

Game Line: Vikings (-2.5)

On the field, football will be played, and even though this is a designated home game for the NFC West champion Rams, they are underdogs by nearly a field goal. Some of that is the circumstances of playing a “home game” 375 miles from your team’s normal stadium, but a lot of it is about the opponent. The Vikings are the first 14-win team to play on the road as a Wild Card.

The 1999 Tennessee Titans were 13-3, losing out on the AFC South to the 14-2 Jacksonville Jaguars. The Titans, as the winningest Wild Card in history, made a run all the way to the Super Bowl that year, before losing to the St. Louis Rams just two yards from the winning touchdown.

Now the record belongs to the Vikings, and their postseason expectations are high.

Quarterback Proposition Bets

The last time we saw Sam Darnold, he looked as if the clock struck midnight on Cinderella. His dream of a season was nightmarish against the Detroit Lions. The week before, in a must-win against the Green Bay Packers, Darnold was 33-of-43 for 377 yards and three touchdowns. Against the Lions, he was 18-of-41 for 166 yards and no touchdowns.

He should be better on Monday. His over/under on passing yards is 265.5, and he is -190 to throw at least two touchdowns.

Matthew Stafford rested in Week 18, and the refreshed former Super Bowl champion has an over/under of 240.5 passing yards and is paying -125 to throw for at least two touchdowns.

Running Back Proposition Bets

We have a couple of the best feature backs in the NFL squaring off in this one, with Aaron Jones of the Vikings and Kyren Williams of the Rams.

Jones has a modest over/under of 59.5 rushing yards, which is a number he’s eclipsed in eight games this season. However, when the Vikings played at the Rams in Week 8, Jones finished with just 58 yards in a 30-20 win. Jones failed to score in that Week 8 game, and he is +130 to score a touchdown in this one.

Williams is the touchdown favorite, paying -135 for an anytime touchdown and +550 to score the game’s first TD. Williams scored a touchdown in 12 of 16 games this season. His over/under on yards rushing is 85.5, a total he’s gone over nine times, and his total yards from scrimmage line is 100.5 yards. Williams has hit that over seven times this season.

Pass Catcher Proposition Bets

What really gives these two teams juice are their wide receivers. The Vikings have Justin Jefferson, who had 103 catches for 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns, and the Rams have Puka Nacua, who in 11 games had 79 catches for 990 yards and three touchdowns. He actually averaged more yards per game this season then he did in rookie year in 2023, when he had 1,486 yards.

Jefferson has an over/under of 89.5 receiving yards, with Nacua just ahead of him at 91.5.

The WR2s in this one are also some of the best, with Jordan Addison for the Vikings and Cooper Kupp for the Rams. Addison is at 58.5 yards, and the line for Kupp is 48.5. Minnesota tight end T.J. Hockenson is also a prime target at 44.5 receiving yards.

Touchdown scorers for the Vikings have Jefferson at -125, Addison at +130, and Hockenson at +225. For the Rams, Nacua pays +115 and Kupp is +155.

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