Adam Carlson· Oct 10, 2026
Carlson argues Minnesota's pass rush, pass defense and T.J. Hockenson's matchup advantage will carry the Vikings to a road win over the Saints in Week 5, leaving them undefeated heading into the bye.
“If the Vikings can make the most of those opportunities, they should get a big road win to take them into the bye week with an undefeated record.”
published in writing · Sports Illustrated · read the original →
One checkable claim, graded on its own against what actually happened.
The call scored 100 out of 100, against 0 for a naive guess at the same calls.
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Who this take is about
The game in this take
- Vikings at Saints 27 calls
1 checkable claim in this take
Each one is scored on its own against the published methodology. A pundit naming several outcomes is graded on each, not on all-or-nothing. Game calls show that game’s closing betting line under their grade: a dated fact from nflverse, for context and never part of a grade. MissedTakes takes no bets and earns nothing from any sportsbook.
- Game Outcome PicksMinnesota VikingsOct 10, 2026
Minnesota Vikings to beat New Orleans Saints
“Minnesota has some clear advantages over New Orleans that should make the difference in this weekend's game. If the Vikings can make the most of those opportunities, they should get a big road win to take them into the bye week with an undefeated record.”
Hit · 100Scored 100a naive guess scored 0+178 skillHow this was scored
- won:
- MIN
- score:
- 23-13
- skill:
- 178
- they picked:
- MIN
- season:
- 2026
- accuracy:
- 100
- baseline:
- 0
- the naive pick:
- NO
- difficulty:
- 1.78
- weeks in the season:
- 18
- weeks left when called:
- 14
Closing line (Oct 11): Vikings by 2.5 · favorite pick, Vikings 56%.
What others said about the same people
- Trevor RipleyScore Predictions · Minnesota VikingsHit · 83Ripley predicts the Vikings beat the Saints 27-24 in Week 5, with Chris Olave likely to have another big game against Minnesota's shaky secondary.
- Grant ChachereScore Predictions · Minnesota VikingsHit · 83Chachere expects Minnesota's defense to carry the Vikings past the Saints despite the Vikings' poor offense, predicting a 17-14 Minnesota win.
- Doug JoubertScore Predictions · Minnesota VikingsHit · 83Joubert picks the unbeaten Vikings to beat the Saints in New Orleans, predicting a 31-28 Minnesota win.
- Dan ParrScore Predictions · Minnesota VikingsHit · 83Parr picked every Week 5 game with scores, leaning on Chicago's ground game at Lambeau, Seattle's defense against the unbeaten 49ers, and the Rams handling Buffalo on Monday night.
- Brooke CersosimoScore Predictions · Minnesota VikingsHit · 81Cersosimo picked winners and scores across the Week 5 slate, including the Vikings moving to 5-0 in New Orleans, the Browns at the Jets, the Colts at Pittsburgh and the Falcons over a Lamar-less Baltimore.
- Eric MoodyScore Predictions · Minnesota VikingsHit · 83Moody gave final score picks for every Week 5 game, siding with the Bears at Green Bay, the Patriots over the Raiders, the Vikings staying unbeaten in New Orleans and the Falcons edging the Ravens.
More game outcome picks
The same kind of call, about other players and teams.
- John GreenGame Outcome Picks · Buffalo BillsHit · 100Green argues the Bills will beat the Rams on Monday Night Football at SoFi Stadium, citing Josh Allen's career success against Los Angeles, James Cook III's rushing against a middling Rams run defense, and Buffalo's edge in special teams field position.
- Anthony "Tone Digz" DiGuilioGame Outcome Picks · Los Angeles RamsMiss · 0Picked the Rams to beat the Bills on Monday night because of their defense.
- Darius ButlerGame Outcome Picks · Los Angeles RamsMiss · 0Said Brian Flores could be Coach of the Year for what he is doing with the Vikings defense, and picked the Rams to beat the Bills on Monday night with Stafford outplaying Josh Allen.
- Pat McAfeeGame Outcome Picks · Los Angeles RamsMiss · 0Picked the Rams to beat the Bills in the Monday night game at SoFi Stadium.
- AJ HawkGame Outcome Picks · Los Angeles RamsMiss · 0Took the Rams over the Bills on Monday night, saying they win by seven in a high-scoring quarterback duel.
- Blaine GrisakGame Outcome Picks · Buffalo BillsHit · 100Grisak expects the Rams to lose to the Bills on Monday night, dropping to 2-3, before getting right against the Cardinals in Week 6. He also expects Myles Garrett back more realistically in Week 7 against the Raiders and Terrance Ferguson back in Week 8 against the Chargers, and thinks Aaron Donald and Colby Parkinson will be available against Buffalo.