NFL Betting Preview

Oakland Raiders (1-0 pre-season) +3, o/u 36 at Minnesota Vikings (9-7 in 2005), 7 p.m. Central Monday, ESPN

A couple of teams with new head coaches face off when the Oakland Raiders take on the Minnesota Vikings in an NFL pre-season match-up Monday night at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

Well, allright, Art Shell isn’t exactly new to the Oakland sidelines, having served as head coach for five years back in the early ‘90s. But when the Raiders fired their head coach (again) during this off-season, and nobody else wanted the job, Godfather Davis re-appointed the former Raider offensive linemen to the helm.

On the other side of the field Monday night, new Viking head coach Brad Childress will direct his troops for the first time. Childress served on the staff at the University of Wisconsin under Barry Alvarez, then jumped to the NFL under Andy Reid in Philadelphia. But Monday night will be the no-nonsense Childress’ first game as a head coach.

Oakland already has one exhibition game under its belt this season, a 16-10 win over the Eagles eight days ago. The Raider defense held Philly to just 227 yards of total offense and 73 yards rushing. But the Oakland offense mustered only 178 yards of its own, just 76 of those on the ground, and quarterbacks Aaron Brooks, Marques Tuiasosopo and Andrew Walter combined to complete just nine of 28 pass attempts for 102 yards and two interceptions.

Childress inherits a team that, despite the incredible off-field distractions last year, actually went 9-7 and just missed the playoffs. But that wasn’t enough to save either head coach Mike Tice or QB Daunte Culpepper’s jobs; both were forced to walk the plank during the off-season.

Minnesota instead this season will be QB’d by steady 37-year-old Brad Johnson, who just seems to win wherever he plays. Remember, he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title just a few seasons ago.

Johnson is backed-up by former Eagle and Lion Mike McMahon and J.T. O’Sullivan.

In Shell’s first stint as head coach with the Raiders, Oakland went 15-9 straight up in exhibition games, 12-11 ATS.

The Vikings and the Raiders have not met on the field of battle since the 2003 regular season.