5 Bold Predictions: Minnesota Vikings vs. Denver Broncos — Week 11
By Chris Schad
Vikings will hold the Broncos under 10 points
Outside of Courtland Sutton, the Broncos don’t have much to fear on offense. Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman have the ability to hurt opposing defenses, but Denver’s rushing attack ranks 17th in the league with 1,007 yards on the ground this year.
Even with Lindsay being involved in the passing game, Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks is allowing just 1.02 yards per coverage snap and ranks 11th in receptions per snap in coverage (12.0) this season.
That’s going to put a lot on the plate of Broncos quarterback Brandon Allen, who has just one career start under his belt heading into Sunday. Although Mike Zimmer has lost to a pair of backup quarterbacks in Chase Daniel and Matt Moore already this year, those offenses at least had some legitimate weapons to get the job done. Denver is in desperate need of playmakers and likely won’t get any until next offseason.
Overall, the Broncos rank 28th in total offense this year and they haven’t eclipsed 200 yards passing since Week 4. Although Denver has run the ball better as of late, the Vikings just got done bottling up Ezekiel Elliott in Dallas who, even though his brain may still be stuck in Cabo, is still one of the league’s top running backs.
Add in a Broncos offensive line that has allowed 30 sacks (eighth in NFL) coming into Sunday and Minnesota should come hungry to shut down an anemic opponent.