The Minnesota Vikings are off to a fast start this season.
Sure, they’re 5-0 straight up and ATS overall, but they’ve also raced out to fast starts in every game and are 5-0 SU and ATS in the first half.
Now, a Vikings team few believed in heading into the season, has a chance to tie one of the greatest teams of all-time for an impressive, rare feat.
The 2007 Patriots — who famously went a perfect 16-0 in the regular season — are the only team to start 6-0 SU/ATS for a full game and 6-0 SU/ATS in the first half. They actually did so in their first eight games, so Minnesota would need to do it four more teams to set a new mark.
The fact that the Vikings are off to such a tremendous start is a shock considering most were bearish on their chances. They had a preseason win total of 6.5 and are just the third team since 1990 to go 5-0 with a win total of seven games or less. The other two are the 2009 Broncos and 1999 Rams. That Broncos team flamed out and failed to make the playoffs. However, the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams went 9-3 the rest of the way and shocked the world by winning the Super Bowl.
Minnesota’s fast start is also surprising considering Sam Darnold’s history. The only other time he began a year 3-0 SU and ATS came in 2001 with the Panthers. He faded that year, though, going 1-5 ATS as a starter the rest of the way before getting injured and entering a time share with Cam Newton.
Despite their success, the market has been slow to believe in the Vikings. They’ve been favored in just two games — Week 1 against the Giants and Week 5 against the Jets. However, that appears to no longer be the case as Minnesota is a 1.5-point favorite as of Wednesday against the 4-1 Lions, who have the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl (+850), according to DraftKings. The Vikings, meanwhile, have the fifth-best odds at +1200.
