Vegas Sends a Message to Vikings for Week 1
The Minnesota Vikings won 14 games in 2024, an unforeseen tabulation because most onlookers didn’t trust quarterback Sam Darnold to author a reclamation season in the Twin Cities.
Sportsbooks aren’t rolling with the Vikings in Week 1. Despite a sweet season in 2024 with 14 wins and three losses, there’s no love for MIN.
And when the 2025 schedule hit in May, it revealed a Week 1 date for the Vikings at the Chicago Bears.
Well, oddsmakers turned around and sent a message to Minnesota; Chicago is favored by a point to win the contest, a spread that hasn’t moved six weeks later.
The 14-Win Team an Underdog to 5-Win Team
A 14-3 team from the previous season — the Vikings — should have a slight advantage from sportsbooks over a 5-12 team — the Bears. For example, can you imagine the Buffalo Bills (13-4) hitting the road for a date with the New Orleans Saints (5-12) and being listed as a one-point underdog?
It’s lunacy.
If anything, Minnesota should get the benefit of the doubt and receive the one-point respect bump.
A Vegas Insult
Of course, Minnesota listed as a tiny underdog against Chicago means nothing in the grand scheme of the regular season. All Kevin O’Connell’s team must do is show up and win. Folks will forget the point spread.
Still, the Vegas insult looms large and paints a picture of why Minnesota is projected to win eight or nine games this season. The spread for Week 1 is merely confirmation.
Vegas believes that Minnesota is a decent team — not a good or great one.
Vegas Isn’t Feeling Minnesota in Week 1
The Ben Johnson Effect?
Of all teams, however, why is Chicago favored to topple Minnesota by one?
Oddsmakers evidently adore the team’s current depth chart, love that Ben Johnson took over fresh off his sizzle with the Detroit Lions, or a combination of both items.
It wasn’t long ago — like Thanksgiving 2024 — when Chicago was the NFL’s laughingstock for wins and losses, time management, and the employment of Matt Eberflus.
The narrative on the Bears has completely changed in one offseason.
The Start of the J.J. McCarthy Era
In the matchup at Soldier Field, Minnesota will present J.J. McCarthy, its one shining hope for the future and ticket to end a 50-year Super Bowl drought.
Minnesota selected McCarthy from Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft, but he tore his meniscus last summer, ending his entire maiden voyage season. He’s back now, though, and his inexperience must be the main factor contributing to the Vikings’ underdog status. What else would it be for a 14-3 club versus a 5-12 franchise?
Other Takes on Vikings as Week 1 Underdog
Others took notice of the Vikings’ Week 1 underdog status. Daily Norseman‘s Christopher Gates opined when the schedule was released in May.
He wrote, “You wouldn’t think that a team that won 14 games last season would be an underdog to anyone to start a new season, let alone to a team that finished last in their division. However, this is the situation that the Minnesota Vikings find themselves in as it pertains to the very, very early Week 1 odds now that the 2025 NFL schedule is out.”
“The folks at FanDuel have released their odds for the first week of the season, and they show the Vikings as being a 1.5-point underdog to the Chicago Bears for their Monday Night Football matchup at Soldier Field. The over/under for the contest is currently set at 45.5 points.”
Perhaps the Vikings can just win, and all will be forgiven, right?
Gates added, “I’m sure that there are some Really Smart Football People™ out there who still have a bad taste in their mouths over the way the Vikings’ 2024 season ended, and there are still plenty of questions about young J.J. McCarthy taking over for the departed Sam Darnold. . .but, come on. This Vikings team is still loaded on defense and has a ton of weaponry on offense as well, so I’m not sure if I understand the logic here.”
“Again, I’d like to emphasize that it’s early and a lot of things could change over the next two and a half months or so. Still, it’s a little jarring to see our favorite team being declared an underdog to a squad that they should still be able to handle.”
If McCarthy remains upright and healthy, the showdown in Chicago on September 8th will mark the first time a Top 10 pick by the Vikings has ever started a game at quarterback.
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