Kirk Cousins opened his career with nine straight losses on Monday Night Football.

But he earned his second win in a row on that prime-time stage Monday night despite throwing for just 87 yards, which is his fewest passing yards in any win in his career.

Cousins went 12-of-24 for 87 yards and two touchdowns in a 17-9 win over the Chicago Bears to improve to 2-9 straight up and against the spread on Monday Night Football.

Both of his wins and covers are against Chicago.

While the Minnesota win never seemed in doubt, the ATS result went down to the wire in a finish that was a lot closer than it seemed like it should have been.

Here’s the TSN EDGE Morning Coffee for Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021.

 

Vikings, Raiders keep playoff hopes alive

While the Vikings won and covered as a seven-point favourite, we were mere seconds away from an epic back-door cover for anybody that took the Bears +7.

Justin Fields hit Jesper Horsted for a 19-yard touchdown pass with no time left on the clock.

If there was a second left, Chicago would have kicked the extra point and pushed as a seven-point underdog.

As it stands, Vikings -7 and the under 47 both cashed.

Justin Jefferson to score the first touchdown was a winner at +440.

Jefferson, whose receiving yards total was bet all the way up from 95.5 to 105.5 in the final hours before game time after it was announced that Adam Thielen wouldn’t play due to injury, finished with just four catches for 47 yards.

He did get an important lesson in before the game though.

At 7-7, Minnesota is back in a playoff position with three games to go in the regular season.

Per ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Vikings’ playoff chances improve from 23 per cent to 32 per cent.

Two weeks ago, Minnesota was +270 to make the playoffs and -370 to miss the playoffs. As of this morning, the Vikings are +185 to make the playoffs and -230 to miss the playoffs.

They will close out the regular season with games against the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and Chicago.

The Bears were officially eliminated from postseason contention with the loss.

Meanwhile, Derek Carr threw for 236 yards with a touchdown and an interception as the Las Vegas Raiders beat the Cleveland Browns 16-14 to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

Carr set up the game-winning field goal by Daniel Carlson with no time left for his 28th career game-winning drive, which matches Matthew Stafford for the most in the NFL since Carr joined the league in 2014.

Per ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Raiders’ odds to make the playoffs went from 4 per cent to 9 per cent.

As of this morning, there are no posted odds for Las Vegas to make or miss the playoffs.

 

Tuesday Night Football preps

Week 15 in the NFL continues tonight with two games that were pushed back due to COVID-19.

The Rams and Seattle Seahawks are both coming off back-to-back wins heading into tonight’s NFC West showdown.

The Rams opened as a seven-point favourite, and while that number dipped all the way down to 4.5 at one point amidst COVID concerns, it’s back up to seven again after it became clear that L.A. would have most of its key players back.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles opened as a three-point favourite against the Washington Football Team, but that number has ballooned all the way to Philadelphia -6.5 with Washington dealing with some key absences.

As for how I’m approaching tonight’s games, I’ll keep it simple and back both favourites to win outright as my best bet.

A two-team, 6.5-point teaser with both favourites means we just need the Rams and Eagles to win outright. 

I’ll tweet out some of my favourite props closer to game time, so make sure to follow up and give a follow to the TSN EDGE account on Twitter.