Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Vikings are unheard-of home underdog on Sunday

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 11/17/22

The Minnesota Vikings might have some extra bulletin board material this week thanks to the Las Vegas oddsmakers.

Despite the fact the 8-1 Vikings are tied for the best record in the league and are also coming off a massive win on the road in Buffalo, they still find themselves as a slight home underdog (1.5 points, via OddsChecker) on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.

If that seems weird to you given the Vikings' success, it probably should.

Because it is almost unheard of for a team with a record this good to not be favored at home.

The 8-1 Minnesota Vikings are currently +1.5 at home vs. the Dallas Cowboys in Week 11.

Per @ESPNStatsInfo, it would be the first time since 1976 that a team 8-1 or better (that started its regular quarterback) was a home underdog
— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkes22) November 17, 2022

Home underdogs should always be feeling a little extra motivation, and that would seem to be especially true when they are tied for the best record in the NFL and riding a seven-game winning streak.

The Cowboys are 6-3 (two full games behind Minnesota) and coming off of a 31-28 overtime loss at Green Bay. Dallas blew a 14-point lead in that game.

The big issue for the Vikings is that there always seems to be some skepticism around their success, almost as if everybody is just waiting for them to fail or fall short. That is especially true with quarterback Kirk Cousins, who always puts up strong numbers but has at times made big mistakes in the worst possible situations.

The one thing you can say about the Vikings this season is that do they keep all of their games close. Each of their past seven games has been decided by eight points or less, with four of them being decided by four points or less. They have won all of those games. There is a lot to be said for a team's ability to keep grinding out close wins and winning those one score games, but when you keep games that close they are almost always coming down to one or two plays bouncing your way.

Eventually one of those bounces will not go your way. That has not happened yet for the Vikings.

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