Week 4 NFL picks and predictions: Vikings vs. Lions

The Minnesota Vikings are looking to string together a couple of solid wins after besting one of the top teams in the NFL in Week 3. A win over the San Francisco 49ers is impressive, but the Detroit Lions present different challenges and of course, there's the divisional rivalry. Picking up a win on Sunday is all the more important for this Vikings team in transition.

Nobody in their right mind was picking the Vikings to best San Francisco and, predictably, they have few takers in their bid versus Detroit in Week 4. Many experts are writing that game off as a bad day for the 49ers, while the Lions have shown they belong among the NFL's best, even when they're not actually winning games.

ESPN has made their picks, aside from Chris Mortensen, and it's mostly Lions across the board. Eleven of the 13 experts who have picked thus far took Detroit to win the game at home, while Merril Hoge and Mike Ditka were the lone dissenters. Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports took Detroit in his picks, as well. Lastly, CBS Sports has seven of its nine experts going with the Lions as well, with Dave Richard and Will Brinson taking the Vikings.

It's not quite the shutout that was last week's picks, but the Vikings have showed that they thrive when they're the underdogs. If they can come out with a similar offensive showing to last week, they could give a middling Lions defense a very tough time.