The National Folks Picking the Vikings over Packers
Dustin Baker
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For the first time ever, the Minnesota Vikings will host the Green Bay Packers in a Week 1 game with fans in attendance.
While most of the NFL community foresees a Packers victory — probably because they employ Aaron Rodgers — a few notable voices have chosen the Vikings to start 2022 on a positive note.
According to NFLPickWatch.com, about two-thirds of all NFL experts favor the Packers straight-up to take down the Vikings. Green Bay is favored by 1.5 points on Sunday, a line that has dropped since inception by about a point.
So, which national folks believe in the Vikings to score a victory out of the gate?
First, courtesy of NFLPickWatch, Vinnie Iyer from Sporting News selected the Vikings over the Packers. And he wasn’t alone on that site’s listing of predictions. Chris Fowler from ESPN followed suit, and he’s been involved with sports media for 40 years. Odds Shark also picked the Vikings, an entity with a 62.5% success rate on NFLPickWatch.
Additionally, Mike Florio, the proprietor of Pro Football Talk and a Vikings fan, prefers Minnesota to Green Bay in Week 1. Florio explained the Vikings pick, “The Vikings will instantly be better than they were last year. The Packers may eventually be better, too. It will take them some time to get there, however.”
And finally, Greg Rosenthal from NFL.com got funky, too, opting for the Vikings 24-23 over the Packers. Rosenthal elaborated, “Part of the challenge here is the Packers’ offensive line. If Elgton Jenkins and David Bakhtiari play (and play well), Green Bay has the best tackle combo in football to counteract Minnesota’s edge rush duo of Danielle Hunter and Za’Darius Smith. If not, the Vikings’ purple people could eat.”
In a nutshell, these are the notables:
- Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News
- Chris Fowler of ESPN
- Odds Shark
- Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk
- Greg Rosenthal of NFL.com
The Vikings have won three of their last four games versus the Packers with Kirk Cousins as the starting quarterback.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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