Sunday Night Football Picks – Vikings Tab Mannion to Duel with Aaron Rodgers

The Green Bay Packers have something in front of them that has actually been quite rare this season.

That is to say, a team that has beaten them.

The Minnesota Vikings held serve at US Bank Stadium in Week 11, and now they have a chance at the season sweep on Sunday Night Football, starting at 8:20 PM ET, this time at Lambeau Field.

OnlineSportsBet customers were thrown a bit of a curve ball on this one when Minnesota QB Kirk Cousins was declared out with a positive on his COVID teat. So head coach Mike Zimmer, who some say has his head on the chopping block, is turning to Sean Mannion, a guy who has kicked around for seven years in the NFL, with the Rams, then the Vikings and Seahawks before coming back to Minnesota this season.

The Vikes (7-8 SU, 8-7 ATS) have played five “overs” in their last six games, and they still have a desperate shot at getting to the playoffs, but at the very least it appears they will have to beat the Packers and then the Chicago Bears in the season finale.

Green Bay (12-3 SU, 11-4 ATS) can insert themselves into the #1 playoff seed with a win on Sunday night and another against Detroit next week.

And of course, there are people watching Aaron Rodgers very closely, because he seems to be on a mission ever since all the controversy surrounding his status as an unvaccinated player. More on that in a second.

In the Sunday Night Football odds posted on this game by the folks at OnlineSportsBet, the Packers are huge favorites:

Green Bay Packers -12.5

Minnesota Vikings +12.5

Over 42 points -110

Under 42 points -110

Rodgers had a disastrous opening game against New Orleans, going just 15 of 28 for 133 yards and two interceptions. It was back then that people were talking about his alleged spat with Packer management, which caused some uncertainty as to whether he even wanted to come back and play for them this season.

But since that opener, he has thrown 33 touchdown passes with only two INT’s, and he is in the center of the discussion for his second consecutive MVP award. Minnesota’s quarterback situation,needless to say,is more “iffy” than that.

Mannion, who played his college football at Oregon State, has been in his share of preseason games but only has 74 pass attempts in regular season action, with no TD’s and three interceptions. He was actually on the COVID list too, but came off it and was activated and got exactly one day of practice with the first team.

This leads us to believe that the Vikings will depend a lot more on Dalvin Cook more than usual. And they have come to depend on him a lot, when healthy.

Cook ran for 86 yards when these teams first met (November 21, with Minnesota winning 34-31), with Cousins adding 341 yards through the air.

The Packers have allowed a total of 499 rushing yards over the last three games, and the style of defense that coordinator Joe Barry plays tends to leave them vulnerable to the run. But against Mannion, who is without reliable receiver Adam Thielen here, they could “cheat” a little and bring their safeties up closer to help with run support. But that would be a recent development, as this switch in QB’s came Friday.

Mannion is a “heady” player, but he doesn’t move around all that well. And Green Bay has a way of getting pressure with four pass rushers, which doesn’t put them in a bad position. We’re leaning toward an UNDER here.

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