Los Angeles Rams vs. Minnesota Vikings Betting Odds, Trends, and Picks for NFL Week 16 on FanDuel Sportsbook

The Los Angeles Rams travel to U.S. Bank Stadium for a Boxing Day clash with the Minnesota Vikings, the impact of which will shape the NFC playoff picture. The Rams are nipping at the Arizona Cardinals for the NFC West Division lead, while the Vikings are clinging to a playoff position on the strength of a tiebreaker. Defense should figure prominently in this Sunday afternoon battle.

The Rams have been playing a tidy defensive brand of football recently, limiting their past three opponents to an average of 286.0 yards per game. That stout effort is facilitating some low-scoring games, as only one of those opponents has scored more than 20 points, with the Rams giving up 40 total points across all three games.

The Vikings have been less successful defensively this season but will need to crank up the intensity against the Rams if they hope to maintain their playoff position. Working in their favor is the condensed schedule the Rams are dealing with after playing on Tuesday night against the Seattle Seahawks. LA played on Monday night in Week 14 and Tuesday night in Week 15 and will have to shorten their rest for their Week 16 contest on Sunday. That could impact their preparations as they get ready to take on a Vikings team that gets results on home field.

This season, Minnesota has been good in their friendly confines, going 4-2 and limiting four of those opponents to 20 points or fewer. The Vikings are carrying momentum from their recent stretch, as well, going 4-2 over the past six weeks, accumulating a few marquee victories along the way.

We are expecting a tightly contested battle with playoff intensity. The betting market likes the Rams to cover -3, which could shift further in the visitors’ direction before kickoff, but we like the Vikings to keep it within a field goal in what should be a low-scoring game. Waiting may yield a shift across a key number, but we’re taking Vikings +3 and under 48.5.