Who will finally get the first win?
“Young or old?”, it will be on Sunday when the Carolina Panthers host the Minnesota Vikings for our tip. Why? Because it’s not even certain yet whether rookie Bryce Young or oldie Andy Dalton will lead the Panthers onto the field.
This will probably only be decided on match day, so it is important to keep an eye on the news here. But: From our point of view it doesn’t make a big difference. Because Dalton didn’t play much weaker last Sunday than Young did before.
We would even go so far as to put the odds of winning with the oldie slightly higher. Overall, however, we see the Vikings clearly ahead. They are also at 0-3 wins, but were close to a win in all three games.
So for Panthers vs. Vikings, our prediction is a clear win for the away team from Minnesota, who will secure their first win of the season. Cousins, Jefferson and Co. could even make it a little clearer at the end against these unsettled Panthers.
Kick-off of this game of the winless is Sunday night at 7:00pm in Carolina. The match can be watched live on ENDZN on DAZN.
Carolina Panthers – Statistics & current form
Three games – three defeats. That’s the Carolina Panthers’ start to the season and these results are not entirely unexpected. It was clear that rookie Bryce Young would not immediately dominate the league right now, even though he was picked at position 1 in the draft.
Neither Trevor Lawrence nor Joe Burrow were able to immediately turn those early praises into dominance. Now, however, Young may even drop out and Andy Dalton will have to step in. What Young lacks in experience, Dalton lacks in mobility – in this respect it is a zero-sum calculation for Carolina.
Where are the chances?
Whether it’s with Young or Dalton, Carolina simply needs to become more flexible offensively. Against Seattle, though, that looked pretty good at times – especially with Adam Thielen. He scored 145 yards and a touchdown.
Thielen, Chark and Sanders will also be needed against the Vikings on Sunday. They allow the sixth most yards of all teams with 382.3 and are susceptible to both the pass and the run. If they can target Minnesota’s weaknesses in the secondary, then something is indeed possible.
Defense weaker than expected
But even if they put up 25 points then, that’s no guarantee of success. Their defence has allowed 27.0 points per game so far, 5.0 more than in the preseason. That should have been their hobbyhorse, but so far they are anything but good.
We don’t believe that they will now be able to hold their own against the yard-hungry Vikings offence. So the odds are more playable on the Vikings in Carolina vs. Minnesota, as well as over-points on their offense power, by the way.
Key Players:
- QB: Andy Dalton
- RB: Miles Sanders
- WR: Adam Thielen
- TE: Hayden Hurst
- K: Eddy Pineiro
Minnesota Vikings – Statistics & current form
339.7 passing yards per game, a Kirk Cousins in MVP form and still an 0-3 start? So just happened to the Minnesota Vikings, which is primarily due to their many ball losses. After three games, they have already lost nine balls – an absolute league high.
They also rank last in the NFL in turnover differential with -7. That’s bad, but at least they know in Minnesota what they have to work on. It sounds strange, but with one less turnover per game, they’d probably be at 3-0 wins.
Vikings best 0-3 team ever
So we can almost say that the Minnesota Vikings are one of the best 0-3 teams of all time, especially when we look at their other stats. Second most passing yards, third most total yards, best wide receiver in Justin Jefferson.
It would be out of the question if the Vikings’ losing streak would continue in Carolina. But: Last year they had exactly this streak in the opposite direction, when they won all eleven one-score games. So the negative version of this is not impossible either.
Turnover as the most important criterion
But we are sure: If the Vikings can reduce their turnovers and close a game without or with only one, they will be hard to defeat. Especially not by the Carolina Panthers.
Therefore, a bet on the Vikings with a slightly higher handicap (-3 up to -6) or a combination bet with over-points is conceivable. Anyone who scores 28 points against the strong Eagles defence should be able to do the same against that of the Panthers.
Key Players:
- QB: Kirk Cousins
- RB: Alexander Mattison
- WR: Justin Jefferson
- TE: T.J. Hockenson
- K: Greg Joseph
Carolina Panthers – Minnesota Vikings Head-to-head comparison / H2H record
Another point that speaks in favour of Minnesota: Four of the last five duels went to the Vikings and Kirk Cousins was at the helm in the last two victories. His passer ratings in these games were 115.7 and 112.6.
So he likes to play against Carolina and the Vikings also put up an average of 27.8 points in these last five duels. A number that we consider realistic again for Sunday, which also makes the odds on over 23.5 Vikings points interesting for Panthers vs. Vikings.
For the Panthers, on the other hand, anything from 15 to 25 points of their own is possible. However, we do not expect more due to the quarterback situation. In general, we would be cautious with betting on Carolina in any way.
Carolina Panthers – Minnesota Vikings Tip
Will the Vikings shoot themselves in the foot again or manage to pull off a game? We reckon the second option, as they shouldn’t sustain this high turnover rate forever.
Thus, betting on Minnesota is recommended in several areas. For Panthers vs Vikings, our 1 tip is a combo bet of Vikings + Over points. Here we can bet up to Over 45.5 or the slightly safer option with Over 37.5.
Alternatively, a Player Bet is also possible. Here our main target in this game is of course Justin Jefferson.
