Many online NFL betting experts thought that the Packers would be an easy pick over the Vikings, due to the fact that Sam Bradford was starting. Bradford was shipped over to Minnesota 8 days before the season began, and even if he was comfortable with the offense, Bradford isn’t known for being an elite quarterback. Minnesota didn’t start Bradford in Week 1, in order to let him get properly acquainted with the offensive scheme. And by the way things turned out on Sunday, this was by far the best move. Minnesota ended up upsetting the Packers 17-14. In doing so, Bradford became the first Viking quarterback to beat the Packers on his first start. With this win the Vikings take the lead in the NFC North and Green Bay is left with nothing but questions.
2015 was a bittersweet year for the Packers. At times they seemed like one of the most dominant teams in the league, and at others they looked like they had no clue what was going on. Sunday night’s performance falls in line with the latter. Green Bay started out strong by forcing a Minnesota 3-and-out and scoring a touchdown on the ensuing drive. However, that was in the first quarter and afterwards the Packers fell apart. This applies more so to the offense than it does the defense whom held Minnesota to 30 rushing yards. Coverage wise the Packers were in position to make plays, however perfect passes from Bradford made that impossible. The real issue was the offense. Early in the game the Packers attempted a 4th down conversion when they were in field goal range, instead of tying the game they went for it and turned the ball over on downs. This decision has to be haunting Mike McCarthy especially when considering the Pack only lost by 3 points. McCarthy received criticism last week for not going for it on 4th down against the Jaguars. However, those were two completely different scenarios. The ball was much closer to the end zone, and the Jags aren’t a divisional rival. At the end of the day the Packers looked extremely sloppy and some fans have begun to call for McCarthy’s head. One thing is for sure Green Bay won’t be getting favored by the online NFL betting odds for a while.
The Packers may not be getting favored against any good teams, but since their next opponent is the Detroit Lions, they might just be the favorites. The Lions seemed impressive when they upset the Colts in their opener 39-35, but they failed to follow through with that against the Titans. Tennessee was able to score 13 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to take the game out from under Detroit this past weekend. The Lions will get a chance to find some consistency against the Packers this coming up Sunday. Let’s check the odds across the best football betting sites to see what kind of chance Detroit has.
Week 3 – Sunday the 25th of September
Packers -8 ½ (-110) 48 (-110)
Lions +8 ½ (-110) 48 (-110)
The spread is favoring the Packers only because the Lions are, well, the Lions. The last two weeks has featured extremely close games for both teams. Unless the Packers have a miraculous week at workouts, it’s very unlikely they’ll cover that 8 ½ point spread. Green Bay desperately needs a win against an NFC North opponent, and the Lions should provide a much needed break for the Pack. While it may be early in the season, if Green Bay fails to win they might as well give up hope on making the list of online NFL betting playoff favorites.
