Redskins will have to sweat for pivotal win in Minneapolis

With the first half of the regular season now in the past the Washington Redskins will be desperate to secure their first back-to-back victories of the campaign against arguably the worst outfit in the league.

The Redskins travel to the 1-7 Minnesota Vikings who haven’t won since overcoming the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4. And with Mike Shanahan’s side securing their third win of the season with an OT touchdown at home to the San Diego Chargers last time out they will be confident of justifying money line odds of 20/27 when they travel to Mall of America Field.

How significant Darrel Young’s four-yard TD will prove to be will depend on games like these as if the Redskins return to DC without the points their chances of reaching the postseason for the second year in succession will be severely compromised.

Robert Griffin III and his team don’t need to look too far back to find inspiration for their desired consistency – they reeled off seven wins on the bounce last campaign to secure their first divisional title in 13 years.

After a disastrous beginning which opened with three defeats the signs are there that their QB is returning to the form that engineered such a terrific sequence last term.

Shanahan will have to be wary of not underestimating the Vikings, however, as despite losing their last four a closer inspection of the nature of their defeats suggests it is not a complete lost cause in Minneapolis.

Only twice have they been beaten by a margin of two scores or more with over half of their games being separated by seven points or less. Last week’s loss to Dallas was a great example of their problem this season; they were leading at Cowboys Stadium by half-time, only for a wayward beginning after the restart prompted everything to unravel before rallying again as the game entered its final quarter.

As a result there are enough positives for Leslie Frazier to call upon to deter weighing in on the Redskins in the regular market and so it may pay dividends to be more creative.

Odds of 4/1 that Washington secure the win they crave but by a margin of 1-6 points looks the right approach. It’s unlikely that the Vikings will have enough to win but they certainly aren’t as bad as some want people to believe.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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