Vikings Rival Is the Hottest Bet for MVP
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings are allegedly no longer chasing the Green Bay Packers for the reign over the NFC North. Sportsbooks forecast the Detroit Lions to win the division, with the Vikings checking in at second place.
Meanwhile, the team tentatively scheduled for last place, the Chicago Bears, employs the hottest bet for the 2023 NFL MVP award. And that man is Justin Fields.
Vikings Rival Is the Hottest Bet for MVP
Fields is not the favorite to win the award — that’s a threeway tie involving Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow — but the Bears signal-caller is the trendy pick.
Pro Football Network explained Fields’ ‘insane action’ for MVP wagering this week, “He is currently the sportsbook’s most bet-on player to win the award, receiving 19% of all MVP bets they’ve taken so far. This is more than double any other player to win the award besides Hurts. Per Meyer, Fields has more MVP bets than Mahomes, Allen, and Herbert combined. Read that again.”
The Bears finished 3-14 last year, and Fields tabulated 25 total touchdowns to 11 interceptions. But the Ohio State alumnus was one of the league’s worst quarterbacks per advanced metrics like DVOA. He ranked 34th among 34 qualifying starting QBs per the metric.
“Fields is getting more than double as many bets as Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen to win MVP this season at PointsBet. Fields has received so much action that after opening at +3000 to win the award, he has been bet all the way down to +1500,” PFN’s Brian Blewis continued.
Fields’ consensus MVP moneyline is around +2000 at the moment, plopping him in a territory with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Tua Tagovailoa from the Miami Dolphins.
And this isn’t the first time in recent memory a Bears signal-caller has commanded summer MVP attention. Four years ago, then-QB1 Mitchell Trubisky grabbed the same headlines leading into the 2019 regular season. In July 2019, BearsWire’s Alyssa Barbieri wrote, “Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky is the most popular bet at one sportsbook to win NFL MVP in 2019. No, you read that correctly.”
Here’s an example of history repeating:
“It’s easy to see why Trubisky is a popular bet, as the MVP is almost always a quarterback on a great team. If the Bears can improve on their impressive 12-4 season — and if Trubisky takes that significant leap in his third season — then Trubisky would definitely have a chance,” Barbieri proclaimed in 2019.
So, this boils down to the eye of the beholder — or bettor. Some believe Fields is sitting on a breakout season like Josh Allen in the summer of 2020. That came true. So did Jalen Hurts-related steam last season.
Otherwise, Fields could emulate Trubisky, who utterly flopped and failed to live up to the lofty MVP expectations. Fields could also live somewhere in the middle.
But with the regular season just five weeks away, folks tend to think Fields is on the Allen or Hurts path.
The Vikings take on the Bears at Soldier Field on October 9th.
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 Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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