Vikings vs Lions Prediction & Picks: NFL Week 8

The guys split on Vikings vs Lions: Ryan laid the points with Detroit, and Sean took Minnesota as the division dog. The game kicks off Sunday, November 1 at 1:00 PM ET in Detroit, MI, and the Lions were 3.5-point favorites when the guys taped on October 28. Hear the whole argument on the NFL Picks Week 8 episode.

Vikings vs Lions Odds

The Lions were 3.5-point home favorites over the Vikings, with a total of 46.5, when the guys taped on October 28.

Our Picks

Ryan Kramer (@KramerCentric): Lions -3.5
Sean Green (@SeanTGreen): Vikings +3.5

Ryan started with a worry. He said the book on Jared Goff against the blitz has swung from bad to good, and he was unsure where it sits this year. He also pointed at Brian Flores, whose play calling he said is out of anyone’s mind right now. His one real positive for Detroit was the run game. Get it going early, as the Lions did against the Colts, and that is how you get to Flores. The 3.5 itself made him wonder about the college-style trend of a ranked team catching points from an unranked one.

Sean answered with trends, and called them conflicting and small samples. By his count, undefeated teams in November or later have fared better against the spread as dogs than as favorites, but those spots are rare. He also noted that the Vikings have been on a bad ATS run against Detroit, with the last two covers coming last season, and that Goff looked better with Ben Johnson than without him.

From there Sean made it a matchup call. He sees a get-right spot for the Vikings offense against this Lions defense. He first said Detroit has historically struggled with mobile quarterbacks, then allowed that Ryan might be right that it was more of an Aaron Glenn problem. He would take Flores over the Lions’ play caller any day, and he called Minnesota the division dog he wanted.

Ryan did not budge. He would lay the points, and he said that if he leaned anywhere else in this game, it would be the under. Sean finished by saying he liked the Vikings spot more the longer he thought about it.

Hear the full breakdown on the NFL Picks Week 8 episode, or listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Watch every game on YouTube, and download the SGPN app at sg.pn/links. See all our NFL Picks.