Vikings open yet another week as underdogs

Coming off of yet another brutal loss. . .at least it was brutal in terms of how it unfolded. . .the Minnesota Vikings will take to the road again in Week 10 of the 2021 NFL season, this time heading to the west coast to take on the Los Angeles Chargers. Through tiebreakers, the Chargers now sit atop the AFC West, making this the third consecutive week that the Vikings have taken on a division leader (a streak that will stretch to four in Week 11 when they take on Green Bay).

The Vikings should be the underdogs going into this one, and according to our friends at the DraftKings Sportsbook, that’s right where they are, starting the week as a 2.5-point dog on the road.

If you figure that the home team usually gets three points from the sharps, it means that these teams are being viewed as basically equal, despite the Chargers’ won-loss record being two games better than Minnesota’s at this point.

This is going to be a markedly different game from the last time the Vikings hit the road to play the Chargers. That was a couple of years ago in December when the Chargers were still playing in their temporary home in Los Angeles. I was there and the crowd in the place looked (and sounded) like a Vikings’ home game. This time, with the game being played at SoFi Stadium, I’m not sure if the atmosphere will be different or not. It’s going to be interesting to see, that’s for sure.

With the way the past couple of weeks have gone for the Vikings, they’re rightfully seen as a slight underdog going into this weekend’s game. We’ll be keeping track of whether or not things change throughout the course of the week.