I won’t bother writing about how it was another strange week of the season because it’s starting to get old, but I do find this trend noteworthy to tell part of the story: every favorite covered the spread on Sunday until the late games began at which time all four underdogs beat the spread. There’s not necessarily anything that can be done with that information, but I point it out because it continues to align with the oddities of this season.
Of course, part of those oddities are also found in the scheduling. We have had a handful of international games and multiple Mondays with more than one event.
This week, however, it appears that we might be going back to normal. There are no early games on Sunday and just the standard grouping of Primetime contests.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that we will have a more standard — read: more stable — week ahead of us, but it would be worth watching to see if there is any correlation between the smaller number of standalone games and the less ‘strange’ — however subjective that might be — outcomes.
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. Spread is listed as advertised number and odds at either DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, or Fanatics Sportsbook (formerly PointsBet). All efforts were made to provide picks at -110 or better, with some stretching to a -125 if no reasonable advertised spread was found.
*Confidence Picks – 2025 Season: 24-19 (Last Week: 3-3)
(2024 Season: 65-57) (2023 Season: 63-61-4) (2022 Season: 54-54-5) (2021 Season: 55-50) (2020 Season: 53-42-3) (2019 Season: 57-43-3) (2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2) (11-Year Total: 646-561-30)
All Picks Against Spread – 2025 Season: 52-56 (Last Week: 6-9)
(2024 Season: 148-136-1) (2023 Season: 142-135-8) (2022 Season: 143-132-9) (2021 Season: 158-126-2) (2020 Season: 132-128-7) (2019 Season: 142-118-7) (2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4) (11-Year Total: 1554-1379-76)
Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Chargers
Because of how strange the schedule has been for the past few weeks, it seems wrong to have only one game before Sunday’s main slate begins. And that one game doesn’t even feature two teams from the same conference.
At the end of the day — literally, since it’s a night game — most of us simply want to watch an exciting, compelling football game. There’s a chance we could get one with the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Chargers, but the lack of familiarity between these teams makes it a bit more straightforward. Not necessarily in what we can expect via the outcome, but in how each team will present itself and try to win.