Reward for 8-1 Vikings winning 'Game of the Year'? They're home underdogs vs. Cowboys on Sunday

When we last saw the Vikings on Sunday, they were furiously rallying from a double-digit second half deficit, sending a road game in a hostile environment into overtime, and coming through with a thrilling win to improve to 8-1.

When we last saw the Cowboys on Sunday, they were furiously throwing headsets as an opponent — the Green Bay Packers — rallied from a second half deficit, sending a game Dallas controlled on the road in a hostile environment into overtime before an eventual Cowboys loss dropped them to 6-3.

So naturally, the team with the better record by two games, which has a heap of positive momentum after Sunday, is ... a two-point underdog in its next game while playing at home against the team that completely melted down.

Yes, that's the early line from the Draft Kings sports book, which wrote this in explaining why Dallas by two is the betting spread for Sunday's game at U.S. Bank Stadium:

"The Vikings were very, very lucky on Sunday, and you can't count on luck to win games. The Cowboys looked solid, barring Dak Prescott's turnovers, and the Vikings' 8-1 record has been over a pretty easy slate of teams, barring this Bills win. Dallas has everything in place to beat the Vikings, and this seems like a bad matchup for Minnesota."

While advanced metrics might agree with some of these sentiments, "very, very lucky" is an absurd characterization for Sunday's win at Buffalo. The late fumble was fortunate. Everything else about the comeback — the ups and downs, the calls that went against the Vikings — is a barometer of their fortitude.

Dallas, meanwhile, choked away a 28-14 fourth quarter lead to a Packers team that had lost five in a row.

If the Vikings are looking to play the "nobody believes in us but ourselves" card, this is perfect fodder.