Baltimore vs Minnesota: the Ravens to reflect on the defeat by Joe Burrow

Baltimore missed last week and had a chance to learn from their terrible loss to Cincinnati in a divisional matchup. Will John Harbaugh's team be able to make up for it at home against Minnesota? Let's pick a few options to bet on at once.

A 17-41 loss is essentially bad, and Baltimore lost like that at home, and also to a fundamental division rival, the Cincinnati Bengals. Not only did the Ravens fail to prove themselves on offense, but they also utterly didn’t manage to deal with opposing quarterback Joe Burrow, who finished the game with more than 400 yards passing and 3 touchdowns.

Despite the loss being so devastating, it should not be overrated. First of all, the final score doesn't quite reflect the actual game – the Ravens lost the 4th quarter 0-14 when they were already forced to take their chances. Hence, the huge difference. Second, there's a positive side to this loss for John Harbaugh's team, who got a chance to work on their mistakes in an innocuous situation. The fact is that the Bengals, after outplaying the Ravens, managed to lose to the New York Jets the very next week, so Baltimore still remained in 1st place in the AFC North division. In fact, there’s little doubt that the Ravens would end up winning it. The potential of this team is known to anyone who has followed the NFL the past few seasons, and the defeat by Cincinnati, ironically enough, only increases Baltimore's chances of decent playoff performance. Weaknesses have been identified, work on mistakes has been done, and it won't happen again in the postseason.

Last week, the Vikings played a Sunday Night Football series game against Dallas. The Cowboys were weakened by the absence of Dak Prescott, but that didn't help Mike Zimmer's team win. As expected, Minnesota conceded little but managed to score even less, losing 16-20 – it’s with Dallas's defense being not exactly the best in the NFL.

There’s nothing specific to say about the Vikings' offense in the game against the Cowboys. Absolutely everything failed – converting 3 downs only 1 of 13, only 184 yards passing from quarterback Kirk Cousins, only 17 first downs the entire game. The loss to Dallas was the 4th for the Vikings in 7 games. And if the team had any chance of catching up with the Green Bay Packers in the NFL North standings, now there is none at all – the gap has reached 4 wins.

Minnesota's game problems seem less important than some psychological difficulties. The Vikings are a pretty decent team, but they haven't developed much over the past year. It's almost as if the team has lost confidence in itself. Maybe it's time to shake things up and the coaching staff or the quarterback position should undergo some change at the end of the championship.

The last time the opponents met was in the 2017 season when Minnesota celebrated a home victory, 24-16.

The last 3 matches in Baltimore ended with a home win.

Baltimore is sure to make the right conclusions from the defeat by Cincinnati – the Ravens are quite experienced as a team. Minnesota is a decent middling in the NFL, nothing more, nothing less. The Vikings don’t seem to have any chance of success against a highly-motivated Baltimore. Without a doubt, we'll take the Ravens win and the under. Defense is the only thing that can save Minnesota, so it will come out on top.

Prediction: Baltimore will win in a low-scoring match.

Betting options:

• Handicap Baltimore (-5.5) for 1.80;
• Total Under (49.5) for 1.90;
• Total Under (47.5) for 2.10.