3 bold Minnesota Vikings predictions for Week 11 vs. the Tennessee Titans

After a few losses, the Minnesota Vikings are back on track ahead of Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans. The Vikings haven’t looked impressive over the past two weeks, picking up solid if not spectacular wins over the Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars, but they’re still in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot with a 7-2 record.

To get to 8-2, they’ll have to defeat an enigmatic Titans team on Sunday. The Titans have a solid defense but an offense that has struggled under second-year quarterback Will Levis. Tennessee also comes into Sunday’s game with a 2-7 record, laying a similar trap to what the Jaguars presented to the Vikings last week.

It leads to a rather unpredictable matchup despite the lopsided records, but here are three bold predictions for when the Vikings and Titans match up on Sunday.

Minnesota Vikings predictions for Week 11 vs. the Tennessee Titans

1. Brandon Powell will return a punt for a touchdown

Punt returns for a touchdown have been a rarity in the NFL with less than one percent of returns going to the house in recent years. But Brandon Powell has a chance to end a Vikings drought against a struggling special teams unit for the Titans.

Vikings On SI’s Will Ragatz recently noted that the Titans’ special teams DVOA is a whopping -15.7 percent coming into Sunday’s game.

FTN Fantasy’s Aaron Schatz is the creator of DVOA, and he says the metric is a method of evaluating teams, units, or players, taking every play during the season and comparing it to a league-average baseline based on the situation.

An easy metric of special teams would be to look at the kicker, but Nick Folk has connected on 12-of-13 field goals this season.

Ryan Stonehouse also hasn’t been the problem with 50.9 yards per punt, but his 34.8 net yards per punt reveals a massive weakness in punt return, where they’ve allowed 537 yards and a 90-yard touchdown this season.

The Vikings have not been explosive in the kick return game – ranking dead last in kick return and punt return yardage this season – but they may also be due as they haven’t returned a punt for a touchdown since Marcus Sherels took one to the house in Week 5 of the 2016 season against the Houston Texans.

2. The Vikings will force at least three turnovers

During the 2023 draft process, there was a strong correlation between Will Levis and the Minnesota Vikings. With a big arm and previous experience in a Sean McVay-style offense, some thought Kevin O’Connell would have an expanded book on Levis and make the Vikings an early favorite to select him with the 23rd overall pick in the draft.

Levis was available when the Vikings were on the clock, but they took Jordan Addison instead. The move appears to be wise as Levis has become a walking meme machine for the Titans and can’t stop turning the football over with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in six games.

The Athletic’s Alec Lewis also noted that Levis has the second-worst EPA per dropback behind Joe Flacco and the highest turnover-worthy play rate of any quarterback in the NFL.

The Titans as a whole have ball security issues, tying for third with the Colts with 17 turnovers this season, and will be going up a Vikings defense that ranks first in takeaways (20) and turnover rate (20 percent) this season.

It’s a bad combination for the Titans and could allow the Vikings to put themselves in some advantageous situations.

3. The Vikings will be held under 20 points

As I said, this is a tougher game to predict than it should be. The Titans are a bad football team, and the Vikings are a good one. A troupe of Vikings fans should descend upon Nashville for a weekend of partying and could create a home-field advantage that could turn Nissan Stadium into U.S. Bank Stadium South.

The Titans turn the ball over, the Vikings take it away. The Titans don’t have an offense, going up against one of the best defenses in the NFL. Justin Jefferson cooked the Titans' secondary for 175 yards and two touchdowns the last time these two teams met in 2020.

What exactly are we missing? The Titans defense.

The Titans have the fewest yards allowed this season but are still allowing 26.7 points per game because their quarterback won’t stop turning the ball over. Think of it as the Jameis Winston effect from 2019 when he threw 30 interceptions for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after routinely putting them in bad situations.

Outside of the numbers, the Titans have a few threats on defense, most notably defensive tackles Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat. With Garrett Bradbury, Ed Ingram, and Blake Brandel’s suspect play on the offensive line, it’s possible the Titans could have their own game-wreckers on the inside making life difficult.

There’s also the chance the Titans stick to their Cover 2 shell, which flustered Sam Darnold last week and if Darnold’s brain is more like a computer with Limewire downloaded than a fixable project, the Titans could make this game closer than people expect.

The Vikings should come out on top with a win, but don’t expect it to be easy.

Prediction: Vikings win 17-7

More Vikings News and Analysis