Our Indianapolis Colts vs. Minnesota Vikings prediction takes a look at the Week 15 matchup that features a 10-3 NFC North team battling a 4-8-1 AFC South team.
Let’s dive into the current NFL betting odds, key storylines to watch, and make a prediction for the game. Note that all odds are from DraftKings Sportsbook as of Monday, Dec. 12.
Colts vs. Vikings Odds
- Spread
Vikings -4 - Moneyline
Vikings -200, Colts +170 - Over/Under
47.5 points
Colts vs. Vikings Prediction
The Colts looked like — for a brief moment — they could make a bit of a run with Jeff Saturday as their head coach. Unfortunately, Saturday’s Colts have now lost three straight games and have fallen to 4-8-1 on the year.
Indianapolis comes off of their bye week though just four-point underdogs, at the time of writing, to the 10-3 Vikings. Indianapolis has struggled to make much noise on offense in recent weeks, but there’s a strong possibility that that changes this week in this matchup.
Minnesota is now allowing 287.2 passing yards per game, which is the worst mark in the entire league through 14 weeks. They’ve also just set a franchise record with five straight games of 400 yards or more allowed on defense.
Matt Ryan and the Indianapolis offense should be able to generate enough this week to keep this game close throughout. This is the key for the Colts to pull off the upset and walk out of this game with a win for the first time since Nov. 13.
If the offensive line is able to give Ryan enough time to distribute the ball to his playmakers, we could see a closer game than even Vegas is anticipating.
As for Minnesota, the news in the NFL going into last week was all centered around Detroit — with a 5-7 record — being favored over the 10-2 Vikings. It seemed massively disrespectful to have this line out there, but it ended up being the correct call.
The Vikings simply could not slow the Lions down on offense, and Minnesota ended up losing just their third game of the season. However, this loss wasn’t on the offense in any regard.
Kirk Cousins looked sharp in Week 14, throwing for over 400 yards and two touchdowns to no interceptions. Justin Jefferson was outstanding yet again, ending the day with 223 receiving yards.
This loss for Minnesota falls on the defense and the secondary. The Vikings have been gashed in recent weeks, allowing 353.3 passing yards per game over their last three contests. If this team wants to make a push deep into the NFL playoffs this season, that needs to change immediately.
MORE: Early Anytime TD Scorer Predictions Week 15
They’ll have a chance to shore things up in Week 15 against the Colts. Indianapolis is averaging just 217.8 passing yards per game up to this point of the season, and they’ve struggled to find a rhythm with the QBs they have on the roster.
If Minnesota can tighten things up on the back end this week and shut down Ryan and the passing attack for Indianapolis, they should be able to advance to 11-3 on the season after this one.
Colts vs. Vikings Score Prediction
Vikings 27, Colts 21