The Minnesota Vikings led the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-0 with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter on Thursday Night Football.

They needed a red-zone stop on the final play of regulation to hang on for the victory.

The Vikings managed to prevent what would have been the largest comeback in NFL regular-season history with the 36-28 win.

Minnesota covered as a 3.5-point favourite, but it wasn’t without a sweat. Meanwhile, the game soared over the closing total of 44.5 after the teams combined for 28 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Here’s the TSN EDGE Morning Coffee for Friday, Dec. 10, 2021.

Vikings boost playoff chances

While they gave their fans and anyone who bet on them a scare, the Vikings ultimately boosted their playoff chances with the win.

Dalvin Cook rushed for 205 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. Cook was +650 to score 2+ touchdowns.

 

Justin Jefferson to score the first touchdown cashed at +500.

Kirk Cousins finished with 216 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions as he improved to 9-17 straight up in his career in prime-time games.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Vikings are just the eighth team in NFL history to play 10 consecutive one-score games in a single season.

They’re 5-5 over that span and 6-7 overall.

Per ESPN’s Football Power Index, Minnesota went from a 26 per cent chance to make the playoffs to a 32 per cent chance with the win.

The Vikings odds to make the playoffs shortened from +270 to +192.\

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh fell to 6-6-1.

The Steelers went from a 19 per cent chance to make the playoffs to a 10 per cent chance following the loss, per ESPN’s FPI.

Their odds to make the playoffs lengthened from +360 to +690.

Pittsburgh has never finished below .500 in the Mike Tomlin era.

The Steelers will need to win at least two of their four remaining games against the Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens to avoid that fate this season.

Lightning extend win streak despite absences

The Tampa Bay Lightning (+115) beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Thursday night to extend their win streak to five in a row.

Steven Stamkos finished with a goal and three assists.

Ondrej Palat had two goals and an assist.

Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 35 of the 38 shots that he faced.

The Lightning announced shortly before game time that Anthony Cirelli was out due to an upper-body injury.

Tampa Bay was already without Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.

Factor in the pieces that the team lost in the off-season following their Stanley Cup run, and it’s impressive how the Lightning continue to consistently win games. 

As of this morning, Tampa Bay is +900 to repeat as Stanley Cup champions for the third year in a row. Only the Colorado Avalanche (+600) have shorter odds.

Canadian NHL teams went 1-4 on Thursday night, with the Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames all losing.

The Winnipeg Jets (-115) beat the Seattle Kraken 3-0 for the lone Canadian team win. 

Championship bouts headline UFC 269

The card for UFC 269 this Saturday is absolutely loaded, including a pair of world championship bouts.

UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira will defend his title versus Dustin Poirier in the main event.

Despite being the challenger, Poirier is the betting favourite.

Meanwhile, UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes will make her highly anticipated return to the octagon to defend her bantamweight belt versus Julianna Pena.

As of this morning, Nunes is -1000 to win that fight.

As always, all of Aaron Bronsteter’s Reading Between The Lines recommendations can be found at TSN.CA/EDGE.

Countdown to the 108th Grey Cup continues

We are two days away from the 108th Grey Cup, with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats set to host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Tim Hortons Field.

As mentioned in previous editions of this column, I jumped on the Blue Bombers with a couple of futures bets during the playoffs and will head into Sunday with Winnipeg at +130 and +100 to win it all.

While I had the opportunity for a potential middle with Hamilton at +4.5 earlier in the week, that number has dropped all the way to Blue Bombers -2.5 at most spots.

I still think Winnipeg will win the game, so I’m content to hold my position on the Blue Bombers and look to the experts for some props to bet for the game.

The Prop Masters Aaron Korolnek and Derek Taylor will be back with their best bets for Sunday’s game later in the day.

Meanwhile, our CFL stats guru Jon Perlberg will take one last deep dive Inside The Numbers and make his prediction for the 108th Grey Cup.  

Make sure you check back in later today for their betting insights for Sunday’s game.