NFL opening lines for Week 17: Packers are near touchdown favorites vs Vikings

The Green Bay Packers have opened up as 6.5-point favorites for their Sunday Night Football matchup against the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday, per DraftKings Sportsbook. After back-to-back backdoor covers by the underdogs over the last two weeks, the Packers no longer control a share of the best against the spread record in the league, as Dallas (12-3-0) has officially surpassed Green Bay (11-4-0) after Week 16.

In the first matchup between the Vikings and Packers this season, Minnesota came out on top by a score of 34-31 after running back Dalvin Cook and receivers Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen combined for over 300 yards against the green and gold. Cook, recently placed on the reserve/Covid-19 list, should be able to return to the team just before the game this weekend but will not be able to practice, due to his vaccination status and the league’s protocol for unvaccinated players, before the Vikings travels to Green Bay. Thielen, who returned to the field this week, was injured once again on Sunday against the Rams.

Between those two major contributors being question marks, the fact that Minnesota is essentially out of the playoff race and Green Bay now capitalizing on interceptable balls that Kirk Cousins tried to throw them the last time around, “our friends in the desert” are expecting this one to break the Packers’ way this time. The total of 48 points implies that the book’s projection is somewhere around a 27-21 score game. Green Bay’s money line of -300 carries an implied probability that they will win the game 75 percent of the time.

If the Packers can come out of this Week 17 game with a win and the Arizona Cardinals upset the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay will have clinched the NFC’s top seed before the end of the regular season, allowing them to rest their starters in Week 18 against the Lions. With so many players asked to play through injuries or miss time for injuries this season, this is about as good of a situation as you could ask for their team at this point in the year.

Full NFL Lines

Sunday Early:

Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New York Jets

Miami Dolphins @ Tennessee Titans

Jacksonville Jaguars @ New England Patriots

Las Vegas Raiders @ Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs @ Cincinnati Bengals

New York Giants @ Chicago Bears

Atlanta Falcons @ Buffalo Bills

Sunday Late:

Houston Texans @ San Francisco 49ers

Denver Broncos @ Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams @ Baltimore Ravens

Detroit Lions @ Seattle Seahawks

Sunday Night:

Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers

Monday Night:

Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers