Thursday night’s matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and host Seattle Seahawks, a pair of surprisingly successful teams in 2022, will help kick off the first full week of 2023 exhibition games in the NFL.
Vikings vs. Seahawks Odds: NFL Preseason Week 1
There’s plenty of different ways to wager on this outing on the various sports betting websites.
The Seahawks are listed as favorites of 3.5 points at DraftKings, FanFuel, BetMGM, PointsBet, and other oddsboards as of Thursday morning. A day earlier, Seattle was a 4.5-point choice at most sites.
NFL · Thu (8/10) @ 10:00 pm ET
| Minnesota Vikings | at | Seattle Seahawks |
| Lumen Field, Seattle, WA | ||
Vikings vs. Seahawks: Who Will Play?
As usual with preseason openers, don’t expect to see many starters taking part, with the exception of those making cameo appearances.
For instance, Seattle coach Pete Carroll has mentioned that he probably will have his starting offensive linemen in the game early before removing them for a stream of backups.
But as for No. 1 QBs, Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins and reigning Comeback Player of the Year Geno Smith of Seattle are expected to take a seat for the entire evening.
Who Will Be Playing QB?
The visiting Vikings likely will open with veteran Nick Mullens in his seventh year in the league. He’s had 17 career starts, with all but one coming while with San Francisco from 2018-2020.
In the second half, we’ll likely see rookie fifth-round choice Jaren Hall out of BYU.
As for Seattle, backup Drew Lock reportedly will play most or all of the first half. He didn’t throw a pass in 2022, but from 2019-2021 started 18 games for Denver before being shipped to Seattle in the blockbuster Russell Wilson trade.
In the second half, undrafted rookie free agent Holton Ahlers is expected to get a lot of work. He is an East Carolina alum who capped his career with the Pirates by throwing five TD passes with no INTs in the Birmingham Bowl against Coastal Carolina.
Vikings, Seahawks Both Anticipating Big Years
Minnesota, the defending NFC North champion, is listed at +4000 on the Super Bowl boards at BetMGM and PointsBet and looking to cash in while Cousins is in the final year of his extended contract. He’s been with the club since 2018.
The Vikings had similar odds last season just before the regular season commenced according to SportsOddsHistory.com and romped to a division title over highly favored Green Bay before being upset in the Wild Card round by the NY Giants.
If the Vikings do make a strong push this year toward the first world title in franchise history, they will have to do so without standout RB Dalvin Cook, who wasn’t re-signed this offseason because of salary cap issues. Attempting to fill his shoes will be Alexander Mattison, who had only 74 carries in 17 games last year.
The Vikings do have WR Justin Jefferson, widely considered the best receiver in the league. He reportedly has said he’d like to play at least a little in Thursday’s game. WR Jordan Addison, a first-round draft pick this spring, should see lots of action Thursday.
As for Seattle, savvy bettors were able to make a Super Bowl futures wager on the Seahawks at +20000 entering play last September in their first season since 2011 without standout QB Russell Wilson in charge. It turns out Smith had a better year and led the Seahawks to a Wild Card berth.
Although their title hopes were quickly extinguished in the first playoff round by NFC West champ San Francisco, longshot futures bettors could smile just a bit if they made a hedge-bet wager or two that took some of the sting out of that loss.
Nowadays, don’t look for those long odds. Seattle is listed at +3500 at FanDuel and BetMGM.
Are Wins and Losses Important in Preseason?
The Vikings and Seahawks are perfect examples of how success in exhibition outings has little to do with how they’ll stack up in the standings in the regular season. It’s pretty much about the quality of play regardless of who wins. And, of course, to judge which unheralded players are worthy of making the final roster.
Minnesota and Seattle were among six teams that lost all their preseason games last season. Yet five of those clubs went on to reach the playoffs.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, one of five rookie head coaches in the league last season, was the only first-year boss not to win in the preseason. He then became the only one of that group to lead his team to a division crown.
In fact, dating to 2019, Minnesota has lost seven straight preseason games, the longest current streak in the NFL.
Conversely, there were six teams that went undefeated in exhibition outings in 2022, including Chicago with rookie boss Brad Eberflus and Houston. Those two teams wound up with the worst records in the league. Only one of the six squads reached the postseason.
Vikings vs. Seahawks Props
Here’s a sampling from BetMGM and DraftKings.
Winning Margin (BetMGM)
- Vikings by 1-6 points +425
- Seahawks by 1-6 points +280
- Vikings by 7-12 points +775
- Seahawks by 7-12 points +400
- Vikings by 13-18 points +1250
- Seahawks by 13-18 points +450
- Vikings by 19-24 points +2800
- Seahawks by 19-24 points +875
- Vikings by 25-30 points +10000
- Seahawks by 25-30 points +1800
- Vikings by 31-36 points +10000
- Seahawks by 31-36 points +4000
- Vikings by 37-42 points +10000
- Seahawks by 37-42 points +10000
- Vikings by 43-48 points +10000
- Seahawks by 43-48 points +10000
- Vikings by 49-plus points +10000
- Seahawks by 49-plus points +1000
- Tie +5000
Half Time/End of 4th Quarter (DraftKings)
- Vikings/Seahawks +550
- Vikings/Vikings +240
- Vikings/Tie +3000
- Tie/Seahawks +1200
- Tie/Vikings +2200
- Tie/Tie +5500
- Seahawks/Seahawks -105
- Seahawks/Vikings +1000
- Seahawks/Tie +3000
Vikings vs. Seahawks Prediction
Although the Vikings are the underdog, it comes as somewhat of a surprise considering how beat up the Seahawks’ running game is.
Not even 10 days into camp, their top four RBs suffered injuries that caused them to sit out drills at one time or another. Probably their most prominent runner available Thursday will be rookie Zach Charbonnet, a second-round pick out of UCLA. But he recently had a shoulder issue.
Thus, the Seahawks almost surely will be digging deep into the depth chart for RB participants. And considering those guys likely didn’t get nearly the reps as the top candidates, good luck with pass protection going against a Minnesota defense led by fiery new coordinator Brian Flores.
When it comes to QB play, Mullens deserves the edge over Lock, who three seasons ago while with the Broncos led the league with 15 interceptions despite playing only 13 games.
Prediction: Vikings 24, Seahawks 17.
How to Watch Vikings vs. Seahawks
Thursday, Aug. 10: Minnesota vs. Seattle, 10 p.m. EDT
Site: Seattle, Washington
On the Air: NFL Network
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