The Bears continue their NFC North slate by welcoming the Vikings to Soldier Field.
This week’s game is another little needle in your side that reminds you of what could have been.
Kevin O’Connell was hired in the same coaching cycle as Matt Eberflus. His teams have had a consistent offensive identity and even weathered a devastating injury to their quarterback in two straight years.
But the Chicago Bears rarely get things like that right. That’s just the way it is.
Oh well. Let’s meet these Vikings.
SB Nation site: Daily Norseman
Record: 8-2, second in the NFC North
Last week: 23-13 win over the Titans
Game day, time, TV: Sunday, noon CT, FOX
Spread: The Bears are 3.5-point underdogs to the Vikings. The total is set at 45.
Bears all-time record against: 58-66-2 (including postseason)
Historical meetings: Week 12, 2012. The Bears hosted the VIkings at Soldier Field. Chicago was 7-2 and Minnesota was 6-4.
Michael Bush rushed for two 1-yard scores, while Adam Podlesh scored a two-point conversion after one of them.
After Jay Cutler hit Matt Spaeth for a 13-yard touchdown in the second quarter, the Bears took a commanding 25-3 lead.
They added only a Robbie Gould field goal while Christian Ponder hit Kyle Rudolph for a score. The Bears won 28-10.
Last meeting: Week 12 Monday Night Football last year. The Bears went to Minneapolis and rode four Cairo Santos field goals to victory.
Of course, it helped that the Bears intercepted Josh Dobbs four times, ruining what had been the darling story of the NFL for a couple of weeks.
Dobbs recovered enough to hit T.J. Hockenson for a touchdown with just under six minutes to play.
On the subsequent drive Justin Fields fumbled and it looked like the Bears were about to blow another opportunity for a win.
But Fields rebounded and ended up hitting DJ Moore for 36 yards, setting up three straight kneels and Santos’s fourth field goal, giving Chicago a 12-10 win.
Injury report: The Vikings had three players on their Wednesday injury report.
Did not participate
- TE Josh Oliver (wrist/ankle)
Limited participation
- DL Jonathan Bullard (toe)
- QB Sam Darnold (foot)
Offense: The Vikings offense comes into the game ranked 10th in points and 15th in yards.
Their passing offense ranks 13th, and their rushing offense ranks 19th.
Sam Darnold (67.9 pct cmp/2,387 yds./19 TD/10 INT) has found new life and is experiencing a career renaissance of sorts.
As a team, the Vikings have lost 14 fumbles, most in the league. They have 20 turnovers as a team, fourth-most in the league
As of this writing, it remains unclear if Justin Jefferson (hamstring) will return, but the Vikings have plenty of other weapons.
T.J. Hockenson (75 rec./736 yds./4 TD) and Jordan Addison (48/647/7) have exploded. The rookie, Addison, in particular has gone off in Jefferson’s absence. K.J. Osborn (33/384/2), and Alexander Mattison (25/163/3) are the supporting cast..
Running back Mattison (148 att./542 yds./0 TD) leads the way on the ground and trade acquisition Cam Akers (38/138/1) gets in work, too. Ty Chandler (33/160/1) gets a few carries, too.
Keep in mind Josh Dobbs, who has been on the team for three games, leads Minnesota in rushing touchdowns with three.
Defense: The Vikings defense ranks fourth in points allowed and 10th in yards allowed.
Their passing defense ranks 28th and their rushing defense ranks first.
Ten Vikings players have at least one sack, led by OLB Andrew Van Ginkel (8 sk/12 QB hits/13 TFL/2 INT/1 FF), Jonathan Greenard (7 sk/13 QB hits/9 TFL/1 FF) and Patrick Jones II (7 sk/12 QB hits/9 TFL/1 FF).
The Vikings have the most interceptions in the league. Leading the way are Byron Murphy (4 INT/8 PD/1 FF/3 TFL) and safeties Camryn Bynum (3 INT/8 PD/1 FR) and Harrison Smith (53 tkls/2 INT/7 PD/2 TFL).
LBs Van Ginkel and Kamu Grugier-Hill (2 INT/3 PD) also are getting in on the INTs. Veteran Stephon Gilmore (1 INT/40 tkls) also has one.
Key matchups: It’s no secret that Flores likes to blitz. Chicago’s offensive line is going to have to hold up and give Caleb Williams time. Thomas Brown needs to build on last week’s successes. That is getting the short passing game going and, an even taller task against the No. 1 run defense, get D’Andre Swift going.
For the defense, they need pressure. The pass-rush hasn’t been enough but pressuring Sam Darnold is key to making sure he doesn’t have time to throw to his weapons. Jaylon Johnson and Co. need to lock down Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson.
Key stats
- The Vikings rank first in turnovers with 21. The Bears rank seventh with 17.
- Minnesota has allowed 15 passing touchdowns. The Bears have allowed just seven.
- Minnesota leads the league in blitz percentage at 37.7 percent. They rank third in sacks and first in pressure percentage.
- Opposing QBs have the fifth-worst QB rating against Minnesota at 79.4. The Bears are seventh at 80.2.
- Darnold will set a new career-high in touchdown passes with his next TD.
- Chicago has scored more than 17 points just once in the last five meetings between these two teams.
- Matt Eberflus is 2-11 against the NFC North.
Can the Bears get an upset win on Sunday? What is it going to take?