2023 NFL Week 14: Minnesota Vikings at Las Vegas Raiders

The homestretch begins this week

It’s a five-game sprint for the postseason for the Minnesota Vikings (and 31 other NFL teams, too, we suppose) and it starts at the Giant Roomba in the Desert. . .aka Allegiant Stadium. . .as the purple head out west to take on the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Raiders, like the Vikings, are coming off of their bye week and have been pretty feisty since they fired Josh McDaniels as their head coach and installed former NFL linebacker Antonio Pierce in the lead spot. They’ve gone 2-2 since Pierce took over with victories over the two New York teams followed by losses to Miami and Kansas City before the bye week. They still have some playoff hopes to cling to but it’s going to be difficult for them in a loaded AFC.

The Vikings had an opportunity to salt away a playoff spot heading into the bye week, but instead lost games to Denver and Chicago by a combined three points and watched their offense turn the ball over seven times in those two games. Turnovers plagued the Vikings earlier in the season and they appear to be hitting the team hard again. They need to have that problem solved if they want their postseason aspirations to continue.

The betting lines for this one have officially opened, with the DraftKings Sportsbook installing the Vikings as a 2.5-point favorite in early betting. The over/under for this one has started at 40.5 points.

Minnesota is currently riding a two-game winning streak over the Raiders, defeating them in Oakland in 2015 and at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2019. This is the first time that they’ve faced the Raiders in the regular season since their move to Las Vegas.

Kickoff for this one is slated for 3:05 PM Central time on Sunday afternoon, and the game will be carried by FOX affiliates around the country.