NFL Week 16 2022: 3 teams on upset alert this Saturday
QB Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)
The red-hot Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals are among the NFL teams that find themselves on upset alert entering Week 16.
The holiday season is here and that means the push for the playoffs is really heating up in the NFL. With tight races for division titles and postseason berths in both conferences, avoiding upsets is critical for teams who want to play football after Week 18.
The Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots learned that lesson the hard way in Week 15, suffering damaging losses that severely hurt their playoff standing. Let’s take a look at three more teams that should be on upset alert in Week 16, beginning with the NFC North champions.
3. NFL Teams That Should Be On Upset Alert In Week 16 – Minnesota Vikings
Things have been getting a bit dicey for Minnesota of late as the Vikings are not playing their best football when it matters the most. The Vikings got beaten up by Detroit in Week 15 and fell behind the Indianapolis Colts 33-0 in Week 15 before rallying to complete the biggest comeback in NFL history and wrap up their first division title since 2017.
There is an opportunity to push the Philadelphia Eagles for the top seed in the NFC now that Jalen Hurts is banged up but Minnesota will have to be careful not to take their foot off the gas pedal in Week 16 against the New York Giants. Oddsmakers have set the Vikings as 3.5-point home favorites but the Giants appear to have righted their ship with a dramatic victory over the Washington Commanders on Sunday night.
New York is a disciplined football team that doesn’t make mistakes, which is an ideal combination against a team that has been as sloppy as Minnesota over the past few weeks. The Vikings will need to play a much more crisp brand of football to avoid being picked off on Saturday.
