Vikings open as slight favorites over Patriots for Thanksgiving night

Coming off of one of the worst losses in team history, the Minnesota Vikings have been installed as the early favorite for the first Thanksgiving Day home game in team history.

Our friends at the DraftKings Sportsbook have installed the Vikings as an early 3-point favorite over the New England Patriots in the nightcap of this Thursday’s Thanksgiving triple-header.

The Vikings haven’t beaten the Patriots since the year 2000, Bill Belichick’s first year as head coach. Belichick-led teams have defeated the Vikings in three different stadiums since then: They defeated the Vikings in Foxborough in 2002, 2010, and 2018, at the Metrodome in 2006, and at (then) TCF Bank Stadium in 2014.

These two teams are coming off of vastly different results in Week 11. As we know the Vikings never really bothered to show up as the Dallas Cowboys put an emphatic end to their seven-game win streak by a score of 40-3. The Patriots, on the other hand, got what was essentially a walk-off punt return from Marcus Jones, who took one 84 yards to the house with just five seconds left on the clock to give the Patriots a 10-3 victory over the New York Jets.

This will be an interesting test for Kevin O’Connell and his team. They’re coming off of a loss where they were thoroughly outplayed and looked unprepared for what Dallas had to offer. Now, on a short week and without his starting left tackle, he has to get his charges ready for another prime-time game in the national spotlight against a team that they haven’t beaten since Drew Bledsoe was their starting quarterback.

Can the Vikings bounce back and justify their status as the favorites in this one? As Vikings fans, we certainly hope that they can.