The Los Angeles Rams won’t have much time to celebrate their throttling of the Chargers as they welcome the Minnesota Vikings for Thursday Night Football. The Rams look to be the cream of the crop in the NFL as they’re fourth in the league in scoring and have outscored opponents 102-36 through three games. They’ll look to move to 4-0 by facing a Vikings squad that is coming off the biggest regular-season loss as a spread favorite since 1992.

Los Angeles opened as a 6.5-point fave to stake its claim as the best team in the NFL.

OTL TRENDS

• The Rams are 9-1 SU and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games as a favorite.
• The Vikings are 1-9 SU in their last 10 games as an underdog of 6.5 points or more.
• The OVER has hit in 6 of the Vikings’ last 8 games on the road.

Rams Are the Best Team in the NFL

All apologies to the Chiefs and Dolphins (the other two undefeated teams in the NFL) but the Rams are on another level. Los Angeles’s defense may have given up 23 points to a high-powered Chargers squad but held Philip Rivers to only 215 passing yards and never really looked in danger of allowing them back in the game. There are some doubts about All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib being able to play in this game after they both suffered injuries vs the Chargers but this defense (12.6 points per game allowed) may not need them when you consider how scary the Rams offense looks after three weeks.

And that offense is humming as Jared Goff continues to develop into one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL. Goff picked apart a Chargers secondary for 354 yards and three touchdowns and it just goes to show that defenses can’t focus on just Todd Gurley and Brandin Cooks, because their third and fourth options in Robert Woods (104 yards, two TD) and Cooper Kupp (71 yards, one TD) would be starting WRs on any other team in the league.

With this type of weaponry and brilliant coaching from Sean McVay and Wade Phillips, it shouldn’t shock bettors to know they’re 9-1 SU and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 games as a favorite and going back to last season are 11-3 SU and 9-5 ATS in their last 14 games in that spot. When they’re faves of 7 points or more, they’re 4-0 ATS in the last four games with an average win margin of 22 points.

Vikings Defense Might be Overhyped

Projecting how the Rams will fare on short rest against the Vikings defense is tricky as Minnesota has blue-chip players at every position but for a squad that has Super Bowl aspirations, the defense has not looked championship-caliber after three games. The Vikings are allowing 24 points per game this season, which is over eight points more than their season average last year (15.8). I looked at the Vikings’ defensive performances going back to the start of the postseason last year and Mike Zimmer’s unit has been subpar:

It averages out to 26.8 points, 276.8 passing yards and 101 rushing yards. Outside of the 49ers game, it makes you pause to think that maybe, just maybe, the Vikings defense isn’t as good as we thought.

As a 6.5-point underdog, Minnesota does not inspire a lot of confidence for bettors as it’s 1-9 SU and 4-6 ATS in the last 10 games in that position and when the Vikings were in this spot last season, they got pummeled 26-9 in Pittsburgh.

If Vikings backers are looking for any semblance of hope after taking the worst loss as a favorite in the NFL since 1992, it’s worth reminiscing about last season when they hosted the high-powered Rams and slammed the door on Los Angeles to the tune of 24-7. This Week the Rams have some key injuries on defense which let up a ton of points last week. And don’t think just b/c the Vikings only scored 7 PTS last week vs the Bills, that they can’t score.

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