Vikings open as early 3-point favorite over Commanders for Week 9

The Minnesota Vikings are riding a five-game winning streak following their thrilling 34-26 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, and they’re an early favorite to stretch it to six.

Our friends over at the DraftKings Sportsbook have installed the Vikings as a 3-point favorite for next Sunday’s game in the nation’s capital. This will mark the sixth consecutive week that the purple has started the week as the betting favorite.

This isn’t to say that anyone should be sleeping on the Commanders at this point. They’re currently riding a three-game winning streak of their own after defeating the Indianapolis Colts in Week 8 and have gotten their record back to .500 in what’s suddenly a very tough NFC East.

The Vikings will also have to deal with a former teammate in quarterback Taylor Heinicke. Heinicke. . .whose time in Minnesota was best known for the time he lost a fight against an apartment door and injured his foot. . .has taken over for Carson Wentz for Washington and helped to get the ship righted for Ron Rivera’s squad.

Right now, the over/under for Sunday’s game has been set at 44.5 points. The Commanders are one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league, averaging just 17.8 points per game through their first eight games, while the Vikings will come into this one averaging nearly a full touchdown more at 24.7 points/game.

I know that Vikings fans prefer it when their team is “under the radar,” but when you get your record to 6-1 and appear to be on the verge of running away with your division, it’s hard to fly that low. We’ll see if the Vikings prove themselves worthy of being road favorites once again in Washington this coming Sunday.