Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears – Preview

By Ha Kung Wong 

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

After a disappointing loss to the then winless Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears will look to salvage what’s left of the season coming off the bye.

If you haven’t been paying attention, the Bears have lost 4 games this season by a whopping combined 62 points and won 2 games by just a combined 3 points.  And both wins came against teams that currently do not have winning records.  In terms of scoring, according to Pro-Football Reference, the Bears have 120 points (20.0 per game), good for 5th worst in the NFL and have allowed 179 points (29.8 per game), good for 2nd worst in the NFL.  Not the results Bears fans were envisioning when  John Fox and Adam Gase came to town.

Well, that’s the past and there’s nothing that can be done about it.  However, much of the disparity in scoring came from weeks in which Jay Cutler was sidelined, so the numbers aren’t exactly representative of what this team can do.  Perhaps, now mostly healthy, the offense can begin to generate numbers that Bears fans expected.  And what better way to put that to the test than facing the Minnesota Vikings.

Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears

Bears Offense

The Vikings defense has actually allowed the 7th least yards per game to opposing offenses (338.8) and the second least amount of points per game to opposing offenses (17.0) this year.  They’re slightly better against the run than the pass, but have been surprisingly well-rounded throughout the year.  Although not a complete indicator of effectiveness against the run, Pro-Football Reference has Minnesota as allowing the 3rd least fantasy points per game (which takes into account rushing and receiving yards as well as touchdowns) to opposing running backs in the NFL this season.  However, Football Outsiders ranks the Vikings defense as 30th at defending running backs in the passing game.  Matt Forte, and his versatility in the passing game, has been the Bears’ primary offensive weapon week to week, and that should continue against the Vikings.  Minnesota is also ranked well against quarterbacks and wide receivers, but there is a partial weakness that can be exploited, and that’s against tight ends.

The Vikings have given up the 6th most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends this season.  Martellus Bennett hasn’t been great with only 48.7 yards per game this season, but this should be a good opportunity for him to get on track.  With two weeks to gameplan, one would hope that Gase and Cutler have found a way to get Bennett more involved.  In addition to that, Alshon Jeffery and Eddie Royal finally both seem to be healthy at the same time, so almost all the anticipated offensive weapons (minus, of course, rookie Kevin White) will finally be at Cutler’s disposal.  Jeffery has only played two games this year, but looked great grabbing 8 of 11 targets for 147 yards and touchdown against Detroit before the bye.  With Jeffery back on track and assuming Royal can start converting red zone targets (he saw 3 of them against Detroit but failed to garner a touchdown), this can be a very dangerous offense.

Bears Defense

On the other side, the Bears defense has been better of late, allowing the 10th least yards per game to opposing offenses.  Unfortunately, that number is a bit skewed, as the Bears are much better against the pass (6th) than they are the run (26th), which may be a product of opposing offenses using the ground game to kill clock while in the lead.

In addition to being generally weak against the run, the Bears will have to worry about Adrian Peterson, who may be the single most dangerous running back in the NFL.  Also, Teddy Bridgewater may have finally found a receiver he’s comfortable with in 5th Round draft pick Stefon Diggs, who had back to back to back productive games with at least 6 receptions in each and averaging over a 100 yards per start.  Along with veteran Mike Wallace and endzone target Kyle Rudolph, the Bears secondary will have their hands full.

Prediction

This will be a difficult test for the Bears, but I do think that the bye week gave them enough time to get healthy and prepare to gameplan against a stingy Minnesota defense.  As long as the Bears don’t allow AP or Stefon Diggs a big play, they’ll hang in enough to eek out a win.

Minnesota Vikings 20 – Chicago Bears 24