Tennessee has lost five straight games and will almost certainly lose this one, but 10.5 points are a lot to give at home — especially considering that the Titans are in a dogfight with Jacksonville for the A.F.C. South division. The Titans plan to start the rookie quarterback Malik Willis, in place of Ryan Tannehill (ankle injury), and could be looking to tread water until facing the Jaguars head-to-head in Week 18. Pick: Titans +10.5
Sunday’s Best Games
Minnesota Vikings (12-3) at Green Bay Packers (7-8), 4:25 p.m., CBS
Line: Packers -3.5 | Total: 47
Against all odds, the Packers are still alive in the playoff race. Winner of three straight, Green Bay enters Sunday’s game tied with the Lions and Seahawks and just outside of a wild-card spot. Though the Packers play the final two divisional games at home and began the week as favorites in this one, the Vikings are on an improbable run of close wins: Minnesota is 11-0 in one-possession games this season, the most such wins in N.F.L. history.
The Packers are having a hard time stopping the run, and Dalvin Cook has been potent against them in the past. It would be tough to pick Green Bay winning by four against the luckiest team in the N.F.L. at full strength, but the Packers rookie receiver Christian Watson injured his hip last week and is questionable for this game, so we’re taking the “underdog.” Pick: Vikings +3.5
Miami Dolphins (8-7) at New England Patriots (7-8), 1 p.m., CBS
Line: Patriots -3 | Total: 42
Both of these teams are limping toward the end of the regular season. New England has lost four of their last five, and the offense has regressed enough that there are rumors of a shake-up coming to Bill Belichick’s staff.
Miami has lost four in a row, and Coach Mike McDaniel announced on Wednesday that he planned to start Teddy Bridgewater in place of Tua Tagovailoa, who self reported concussion symptoms after last week’s loss to the Packers. Miami needs this win to hang onto a wild-card berth, with the Patriots just a game behind in the A.F.C. East, and the Dolphins can clinch here. Bridgewater is capable of throwing to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and might even fare better than Tagovailoa did against the press coverage in the past two weeks. Pick: Dolphins +3
Carolina Panthers (6-9) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-8), 1 p.m., Fox
Line: Buccaneers -3 | Total: 39
The Buccaneers will clinch the N.F.C. South with a win, but they face a Panthers team highly motivated to keep that from happening. Sam Darnold has averaged 8.6 yards per attempt since Week 12 — a period in which the team has gone 3-1 — and the Panthers only turned the ball over once during that stretch (compared with the Buccaneers’ 11). Despite trading Christian McCaffrey early in the season, Carolina still has a rushing game Tampa Bay should envy: D’onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard help the team put up an average of 187 rushing yards per game since Week 12 (the Buccaneers averaged 90 in that stretch).
The Buccaneers have stayed on top of this division by grinding out ugly wins against bad teams, needing miraculous late-game scores to come out on top. If Tampa Bay’s offense played entire games the way they do during the final two minutes, the Buccaneers might have been Super Bowl contenders. Pick: Panthers +3
David Hill
Source link
