Bears Game Day Glance
Minnesota Vikings (6-7) at Chicago Bears (4-9)
Kickoff: 7:20 p.m. Monday, Soldier Field, Chicago
TV: ESPN/ABC-7 (Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Louis Riddick, Lisa Salters)
TV Streaming: ESPN on fuboTV, free trial.
Radio: WBBM AM-780, FM-105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote).
National Radio: Westwood One (Kevin Harlan, Kurt Warner, Rich Eisen).
Spanish Radio: TUDN AM-1200, Latino Mix FM-93.5 (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)
The line: Vikings by 6 (over/under 44 1/2). Betting information at SI.com
BearDigest.com Pick: Vikings 24, Bears 23.
BearDigest Record to Date: 12-1 straight up, 10-3 vs. the spread.
The Series: This is the 121st matchup. The Vikings lead the series 61-57-2. The Bears have won five of the last six. The Vikings won the last game at Soldier Field last season 13-9.
The Coaches: Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is 70-54-1 in his eighth season, 2-3 in the playoffs and 7-7 against the Bears.
Bears coach Matt Nagy is 32-29 in his fourth season including 5-1 against Zimmer's Minnesota team.
Last Week: Dalvin Cook ran 27 times for 205 yards and two touchdowns while Kirk Cousins went 14 of 31 for 216 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson had seven receptions for 79 yards and a TD.
The Bears led Green Bay at halftime 27-21 but couldn't hold off Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in a 45-30 loss. Justin Fields completed 18 of 33 for 224 yards and two TDs with two interceptions and ran for 74 yards on nine carries. Jakeem Grant set a Bears record with a 97-yard punt return TD and Damiere Byrd had a 54-yard TD catch.
Injuries: For Minnesota, WR Adam Thielen (ankle) is questionable. The team has released starting CB Bashaud Breeland after a dispute in practice on Saturday.
A COVID-19 outbreak hit the Bears and as of Sunday night they had 14 players on the COVID-19 list: QB Andy Dalton, CB Jaylon Johnson, S Tashaun Gipson, CB Duke Shelley, CB Artie Burns, S Eddie Jackson, WR Allen Robinson, DT Mario Edwards Jr., OLB Sam Kamara*, RB Ryan Nall, T Larry Borom, TE Jesse James, ILB Joel Iyiegbuniwe, WR Isaiah Coulter*. Also the Bears have ruled out CB Xavier Crawford (concussion), S DeAndre Houston-Carson (broken arm) and T Jason Peters (ankle). NT Khyiris Tonga (shoulder) and WR Marquise Goodwin (foot) are doubtful. Roquan Smith (hamstring) and DE Akiem Hicks (ankle) are questionable, although both practiced this week without taking off.
What to watch: It's two embattled coaches whose jobs are rumored to be on the line. Zimmer doesn't have a long list of missing players, though. Nagy will not have two of his coordinators at the game. Instead, QB coach John DeFilippo will be offensive coordinator and Brian Ginn will be special teams coordinator after COVID hit all three coordinators. Defensive coordinator Sean Desai was cleared to be at the game on Monday morning. Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor will not be at the game. ... Can the Bears stop the high-flying Vikings passing attack with Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson with all of their starting secondary out either for COVID-19 or injuries? They'll have players elevated from the practice squad. ... Can the Vikings win and keep pace in the chase for the last NFC wild-card spot. They came into this week tied but trailing in the tiebreakers. They currently are half a game behind New Orleans (7-7). ... Fields is looking to end a six-game losing streak as starter. ... The Bears are officially eliminated with a loss.
Matching Up: The Vikings are fourth on offense, seventh in passing and ninth at rushing. On defense Minnesota is 29th, 26th against the pass and 27th against the run.
The Bears are 31st on offense, 32nd (last) passing and seventh at rushing. They are ninth on defense, seventh against the pass and 23rd against the run.
Of Note: The game pits two of the best pass-rushing teams. The Vikings lead the NFL with 41 sacks and have 16 players with at least half a sack but no one with more than five. ... Minnesota's defense is next to last in the NFL in yards allowed per carry (4.7) and is fifth at stopping third downs. ... The Vikings have a plus-5 turnover ratio and teh Bears a minus-11 ratio. ... Justin Fields went into the week tied for the NFL league with 10 fumbles. ... Teven Jenkins makes his first NFL start at left tackle for injured Peters. He allowed two sacks and committed four penalties last week against the Packers. ... The Vikings are the only team in the NFL to not have a loss by nine or more points.
Key Individual Matchups
Bears WR Damiere Byrd vs. Vikings CB Mackensie Alexander
Alexander two years ago with Minnesota seemed like he could be on the verge of being one of the league's better slot cornerbacks, but went to Cincinnati in free agency and struggled. He came back to Minnesota and the bottom has fallen out. PFF ranks him overall the worst cornerback in the league. Byrd has been making an impact since Marquise Goodwin's foot injury and has been especially effective over the middle with catch and run. The Bears are 28th in yards after catch at 4.7 per reception but Byrd is better than that at 5.6 yards. He has 10 catches for 156 yards and a 54-yard TD since getting more playing time after Goodwin's injury four games ago.
Bears OLB Robert Quinn vs. Vikings LT Christian Darrisaw
Robert Quinn's sack total could continue to rocket skyward in this one as he makes a bid to break Richard Dent's team sacks record of 17 1/2. Quinn is four shy of breaking it. Combining his speed and power with a veteran's knowledge of how to apply pressure, Quinn is giving the Bears defense its one remaining weapon after about everyone else has been lost to injury. Usually it's been Khalil Mack giving headaches to Kirk Cousins. This time the Bears need it to be Quinn. Darrisaw has been fairly effective for a rookie and Minnesota has allowed only 18 sacks this year. Darrisaw's big weakness, though, is pass blocking and he ranks 65th at this out of 80 tackles graded by PFF. One big concern for Quinn in this will be the Vikings' use of bootlegs and screens. They love to get the defensive edges out of position. Darrisaw is coming off an ankle injury but is expected to play.
Bears RG James Daniels vs. Vikings DT Michael Pierce
Pierce was expected to make a big impact inside for the Vikings and should, as he was an effective veteran with the Ravens prior to this season. He made a difference early but an elbow injury took him out of the lineup. He's been back two weeks but their defense continues to struggle. At 6-foot-4, 340 pounds, Pierce might be better suited to being a tree trunk, or for being a 3-4 nose than a tackle in Mike Zimmer's 4-3 scheme. Minnesota ranks 31st in the league at stopping runs right up the middle (5.01 yards an attempt) and 29th both off right guard and right tackle. It's an opportunity for James Daniels to make an impact in the running attack while blocking against a defense ranked 27th stopping the run. Daniels has been the second-best Bears offensive lineman this year, ranking 23rd out of 80 graded by Pro Football Focus at guard.
Bears CB Kindle Vildor vs. Vikings WR Justin Jefferson
Jefferson is playing like he never heard the term "sophomore jinx." He's been spectacular, has one more touchdown catch (8) than his rookie season and needs just four catches and 113 yards to pass last year's season total of 88 receptions and 1,400 yards. Jefferson's speed is a huge edge here and he's getting more wide open in their offense this year. He has had to break a tackle only once every 28.3 receptions compared to once every 9.8 receptions last year. The targeting range has gone up a bit too, at 12.2 yards now as opposed to 11.4 last year. And Kirk Cousins has thrown only one interception when targeting Jefferson as opposed to four last year. Vildor was benched on Thanksgiving after starting all season but is needed as a starter with Jaylon Johnson and Artie Burns out due to COVID-19. It's unlikely the Bears would match him up all over the field with Jefferson the way they were doing with Johnson. Vildor was playing left cornerback before his benching. It will be interesting to see who the Bears replace Johnson with because all of their other cornerbacks are out. It could be a practice squad player.
Bears LB Roquan Smith vs. Vikings RB Dalvin Cook
Cook missed a game with an injury two weeks ago but then ran for 205 yards against the Steelers last week after it had been widely reported he would miss two games at least with a shoulder injury. He returned after one week to produce that big effort. Cook hasn't been in the end zone as much this year with six TD runs to 16 last year, and his reception total (28) is down by 16 from last year but he has missed three games with injuries. Smith normally has been up to this challenge. Cook didn't face the Bears until Smith was their starting inside linebacker and in five games against them he averages only 3.57 yards and 4.5 receptions for 19.4 yards per game. However, Smith is still being watched for the hamstring injury he had three weeks ago. He played through it against Arizona, aggravated it against Green Bay and has been limited in a week when they only had walk-through practices. So chasing Cook and his great speed and strength around won't be easy for the leading Bears tackler.
Bears LB Alec Ogletree vs. Vikings TE Tyler Conklin
Conklin, who is 6-foot-3, 248 pounds, was an unknown factor to most in the league but with Kyle Rudolph gone he has stepped up nicely to make 49 receptions. The Bears knew all about him from last year, when he caught a key TD pass against them in Minneapolis. Conklin is a big weapon for Minnesota in this for a few reasons. One is they are shorthanded at wide receiver with Adam Thielen nursing a high ankle sprain. Another is the Bears can't really afford to match up safety Tashaun Gipson on Conklin much if they're going to play Johnson on Jefferson. It's going to be Ogletree or an extra defensive back, whoever that could be considering all the injuries and illness affecting the Bears secondary. Ogletree remains the lowest-ranked inside linebacker in the league (83rd) according to PFF, with a grade of 28.4.
Bears C Sam Mustipher vs. Vikings LB Eric Kendricks
While this linebacker spot might not be an exact match per field location with the Bears center, he will be in this game because Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is more likely to use his old tactic of double-A gap blitz facing Justin Fields for the first time. Fields' weakness early in the year was picking up the blitz and standing in to find his receiver options. Kendricks has five sacks on the year and is sure to challenge Mustipher, who has never been highly regarded by PFF but has managed to up his grade over several months to the 51.2, although it's 35th among the league's 38 graded centers. It might not be on Mustipher to block the blitzer one on one, but he could, and he also is going to need to be making line adjustments to prevent this tactic.
Bears LT Teven Jenkins vs. Vikings DE Tashawn Bower
The Vikings' outside pass rush has been decimated by injury situations. They're using Patrick Jones or Tashawn Bower off the side of the ball where Jenkins figures to start. Neither Jones nor Bower would rate an edge over anyone except Jenkins, who will make his first start and struggled mightily against Green Bay when pressed into replacing injured Jason Peters. Jenkins hadn't had training camp, preseason or regular-season contact work until the game with the Packers and is the Bears' second-round pick this year. So he never had real contract work in an NFL practice or game setting until that game. He sure didn't get it this week with only walk-through practices. Jones is actually a tougher matchup than Bower, who relies more on his strength and wouldn't have a great speed edge against Jenkins. The Vikings can come with blitzes or by lining up extra linebackers in rush situations on this side, as well. Whichever player the Vikings line up off that edge, he'll rate an edge over Jenkins. Wait until next year when Jenkins isn't coming off back surgery and has been able to practice. Things could change rapidly then.
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