Texans are favored to beat Vikings in Minneapolis in Week 3

Even after beating the 49ers in impressive fashion on Sunday to improve to 2-0, the Vikings still don’t command much respect from bookmakers. They opened with a 2.5-point lead at home for their Week 3 matchup against the Houston Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Texans are also 2-0, but their +8 point differential is significantly worse than the Vikings’ +28. Houston beat the Colts by two points in their opener in Indianapolis, then held on for a 19-13 home win over the Bears on Sunday Night Football.

Reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year CJ Stroud has had a solid start to his sophomore season. He’s completed 69 percent of his passes so far with three touchdowns and no interceptions. His top target, Nico Collins, leads the NFL in receiving yards with 252 through two weeks. Joe Mixon, Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell round out Stroud’s solid group of weapons.

It was Houston’s defense that made the difference Sunday night. DeMeco Ryans’ group tackled Caleb Williams seven times, intercepted him twice and held the Bears to just over 200 yards of total offense. It’s a very talented unit, led by edge rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr., linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and young corners Derek Stingley Jr. and Kamari Lassiter.

This Week 3 matchup should be pretty interesting between two 2-0 teams. Brian Flores’ defense against Stroud and Bobby Slowik’s offense will be another intriguing chess match. Sam Darnold and the Vikings’ offense, which is much better than Chicago’s, will look to continue rolling against another good defense. The Bears’ offensive line was horrible against the Texans on SNF, but the Vikings only allowed pressure on 9 of Darnold’s 31 dropbacks against the 49ers.

We’ll see if the line moves throughout the week, but for now, the Vikings are the home underdogs again. And they won’t mind. They’ve easily covered the spread twice and enjoy being overlooked. They’ll just get back to work this week and prepare to go out next Sunday and come away with a 1-0 score.