The Minnesota Vikings are certainly one of the biggest surprises in the NFL this season, sitting at 5-2 on the season going into Week 8, in a Thursday night matchup at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
For the Bucs, they fell to a disappointing 2-4 record after a home loss to New Orleans on a last-second play that resulted in a penalty instead of the touchdown. ans in the stadium all became familiar with the rule relating to a receiver be unable to touch the ball first after coming out of bounds.
The result was a 35-28 loss, and now the Bucs find themselves four games behind the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South.
Minnesota is just a half-game behind Chicago for the NFC North lead and one game in front of Green Bay. So this game against Tampa Bay on Thursday Night Football is certainly one of big importance.
The Vikings are a perfect 4-0 at home this season, and will try to push that record to five. Oddsmakers think that they will, as Minnesota is set as a touchdown favorite over the visiting Buccaneers. Quarterback Christian Ponder has exactly been lighting up the stats sheet, but he has been very efficient in his throws, and limited in his turning the ball over. Combine that with the fact that he gets to hand the ball off to Adrian Peterson, and dump it to Percy Harvin, and those playmakers are doing exactly what they get paid so much to do.
Make plays.
Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman comes in off of a career high passing, where he tabbed over 400 yards and three touchdowns in the losing effort to the Saints on Sunday. At the very least, he should go in confident knowing that the offense had their best day so far this season.
But it will be a tough environment to go in and win at or Freeman and the Bucs, with a loss pushing them even further back in the division. They can’t afford too many more if they hope to put together a second-half run.
Tampa Bay and Minnesota kick off at 8:20 pm ET on Thursday night, with coverage on NFL Network.
If the Detroit Lions hope to stay in the NFC North division race, they will need to go on the road on Monday Night in Week 7 and knock off the Chicago Bears. The Lions are currently two games behind Chicago in the standings, and will fall to three if they cannot overcome mistakes that have plagued themes thus far.
The Houston Texans rebounded from their first loss of the season last week versus the Green Bay Packers, to come back and stomp the Baltimore Ravens 43-13 on Sunday afternoon in Week 7 of the NFL season.
The Seattle Seahawks were involved in their second controversial game this season but this time in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night in Week 7.
The Houston Texans lost their first game of the 2012 season, falling on the national stage to the Green Bay Packers last week. The loss only hurts the Texans as they prepare to grab home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, as the division is seemingly theirs for the taking. This week the top record in the AFC is up for grabs, as the Texans host the one-loss Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are fresh off a two-point win over the Dallas Cowboys and are on the verge of running away with the AFC North, much like the Texans are going to run away with the AFC South. This has the making of a knockdown, drag out game in Houston, especially with the physical nature of both teams. 
Robert Griffin III did everything in the Redskins Sunday win over the Vikings, including a long touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to ice away the win. Doing everything is exactly why the Redskins drafted the rookie quarterback out of Baylor, and to this point, it seems to be paying off. However on Sunday Griffin will have his first opportunity to take down a divisional opponent, and no better way to start than facing off against Eli Manning and the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. Manning and company are fresh off a beat-down of the San Francisco 49ers, and look to be the class of the NFC East to this point, especially with the Eagles reeling. Sunday’s matchup will be a true test for the Redskins, especially if they want to stay in the divisional hunt. 
Who would have thought that a Week 7 matchup on Thursday night in the NFC West between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks would be for the division lead over the other?
There is just one undefeated team left in the NFL, as we saw the Houston Texans fall from the ranks of the unbeaten in Week 6. That leaves only the Atlanta Falcons a the lone team in the league without a blemish on the record.
The Atlanta Falcons might be the only undefeated team left in the NFL through six weeks of the season, but that still hasn’t been enough to convince oddsmakers that they are the team to beat when it comes to the Super Bowl.
And then there was one.