Bears at Vikings Week 15: TV, Radio, the Line and Prediction

Gameday glance at the key numbers and matchups with TV, Radio and betting info on the Bears at the Vikings

Chicago Bears (6-7) at Minnesota Vikings (6-7)

Kickoff: Noon, Sunday, U.S. Bank Stadium

TV: Fox (Chris Myers, Greg Jennings, Jen Hale)

Radio: WBBM-AM 780, 105.9 FM (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote)

Sirius/XM (Channel 225, streaming 805)

Spanish: Univision Deportes 1200 AM, 93.5 FM (Hector Lopez, Miguel Esparza)

The Series: 120th matchup. The Vikings lead the series 61-56-2. The Bears have won four of the last five. Minnesota won the last game Nov. 16 at Soldier Field, 19-13. The Bears have won two straight in Minneapolis. They haven't won three straight there since 1983-85.

The Line: Vikings by 3 1/2 (46 1/2 over/under)

BearDigest Pick: Vikings 24, Bears 21 OT

Last Week: The Bears ended a six-game losing streak by beating Houston 36-7 behind three touchdown passes by Mitchell Trubisky, an 80-yard TD run by David Montgomery and seven sacks by the defense. Minnesota suffered a 26-14 loss, its second loss in seven games, as kicker Dan Bailey missed three field goals and an extra-point kick and Tampa Bay's Tom Brady threw two TD passes.

The Coaches: Bears coach Matt Nagy is 26-19 in his third year and is 4-1 against the Vikings.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is 63-45 in seven seasons and is 7-6 against the Bears.

The Quarterbacks: Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky makes his seventh start of the season. The Bears have won three of his six starts, one coming with backup Nick Foles rallying the team from 16 down in the fourth quarter. Trubisky's record as a starter against the Vikings is 4-2 but one win included a game when he was knocked out with an injury on the first drive and two wins came in season finales, one when backups played for the Vikings. Trubisky is 98 of 158 for 850 yards with two touchdowns, three interceptions and a passer rating of 72.5 against Minnesota.

Minnesota's Kirk Cousins has started six times against the Bears, with his team winning three. Two of those wins came while playing for Washington. Cousins completed 25 of 36 for 292 yards and two TDs with an interception in the Nov. 16 win over the Bears. He has completed 144 of 211 for 1,489 yards with seven TDs and four interceptions for a passer rating of 91.5 against the Bears.

Injury Report

Bears

Out

• DB Buster Skrine (concussion)

• CB Jaylon Johnson (shoulder)

• S Deon Bush (foot)

Questionable

• TE Jimmy Graham (hip)

• LB Khalil Mack (shoulder)

• LB James Vaughters (knee)

Vikings

Out

• LB Eric Kendricks (calf)

• TE Kyle Rudolph (foot)

Questionable

RB Alexander Mattison (illness) 

Matching Up

The Bears are 28th on offense, 24th passing and 28th rushing. They are 13th on defense, 15th against the pass and 17th against the run.

The Vikings are seventh on offense, 17th passing and sixith rushing. Minnesota is 22nd on defense, 25th against the pass and 19th against the run.

Key Individual Matchups

Bears LCB Kindle Vildor vs Vikings WR Justin Jefferson

Vildor makes his first career start and has been getting some extra coaching from Kyle Fuller this week. He plays in place of Jaylon Johnson, who had real problems with Jefferson in the first matchup. Jefferson didn't really give any problems down the sidelines on deep routes or on 50-50 balls like he's known to do, but on slants, posts and skinny posts. He repeatedly used his leverage wisely and showed great burst. Johnson suffered a shoulder injury and left the last game. Vildor is raw,  but had combine numbers to suggest he could be up to the task. He ran 4.44 in the 40 and Jefferson ran 4.43. He is 5-foot-10 and gives up 3 inches to Jefferson, but his vertical leap is 39 1/2 inches and Jefferson's is just 37 1/2. He just lacks experience. The Bears can't really afford to give a lot of help except in straight zone because Adam Thielen becomes too dangerous then.

Bears S Tashaun Gipson vs. Vikings TE Irv Smith Jr.

Gipson hasn't been a disaster as the replacment for Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, but his three touchdown passes allowed and 105.4 passer rating against aren't going to land him a Pro Bowl spot. He has been an excellent tackler, either coming up with run support or once the catch is allowed. Gipson has only failed on three of his 62 tackle attempts. Smith didn't play against the Bears last time due to injury, and when the Vikings can rely on both Smith and Kyle Rudolph at tight end they become extremely difficult to stop both in the running game and passing game. But Rudolph is suffering from an injury and Smith has just come back from one. He appeared healthy last week with four receptions, and his speed/strength combination might be more than the Bears can handle at the position in their secondary when they're so focused on either Cook or Jefferson.

Bears TE Cole Kmet vs. Vikings SS Harrison Smith

When isn't Harrison Smith a problem for the Bears? Besides injuring Mitchell Trubisky once, he has five career interceptions against the Bears, has picked off both Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky and in the first game against the Bears this season was part of a secondary that completely shut down their tight ends. The Bears completed one pass to Kmet for 7 yards, and Jimmy Graham was blanked in the game. Covering their tight ends almost seems like it's beneath him. What Smith hasn't had to do is face a more confident Kmet. In the last two games Kmet has nine receptions and appears to have broken through. The Bears will need his speed/size combination against Smith, who has both of those working in his favor and always seems to be around the ball when Trubisky throws up an ill-advised pass.

Bears LT Charles Leno Jr. vs. Vikings LDE Ifeadi Odenigbo

Leno normally should be able to handle this matchup. Odenigbo isn't a dominant overall defensive end. He leads the Vikings with only 3 1/2 sacks, but he did beat Leno to produce the sack that resulted in Foles' hip injury. Odenigbo isn't a pure speed rusher, but has enough strength and speed to give Leno problems if the Bears are forced into playing catch-up and throwing every down. By no standards has Leno suffered through a bad season. He has allowed four sacks and committed six penalties. Pro Football Focus gives him a 72.0 overall grade, which is solid, including 69.5 as a pass blocker. The Vikings game was a problem for him last time, though.

Bears WR Allen Robinson II vs. Vikings CB Kris Boyd

On non-passing downs, rookie Jeff Gladney lines up outside and Robinson would face him but he moves inside and Boyd goes outside on passing downs. Either way, Robinson moves around, too, but facing any of these Vikings cornerbacks should be a mismatch. He has 3 inches on Boyd, a couple inches on Gladney and neither Vikings cornerback has been really effective, although Gladney has been improving. Gladney in coverage has a 48.8 Pro Football Focus rating, which is poor. Boyd is not much better at 50.3. Gladney has allowed six TD passes and a 118.6 passer rating against while Boyd has given up two TDs and a 121.4 passer rating against. The Bears did not take advantage of these mismatches in the first game with Nick Foles at quarterback, but the Vikings tend to cheat with safety Harrison Smith over the top on Robinson. They held Robinson to 43 yards on six receptions. There wasn't much of a tight end threat to draw Smith away from cheating toward Robinson, but with Cole Kmet now working better in the offense it's possible they'll find Robinson open more.

Bears LG Cody Whitehair vs. Vikings DT Jaleel Johnson

The Bears had a beautifully blocked 80-yard TD run last week off the left side and Whitehair is one of their most consistent blockers. Earlier this season Whitehair's PFF grade had dipped into the mid 60s but over the last three weeks with Sam Mustipher at center Whitehair's efficiency has risen. In a year when the Bears have been one of the league's worst running teams, Whitehair has an excellent 81.2 run-blocking grade, although his pass blocking has been sub-par much of the year as the Bears struggled with continuity while using six different offensive lines. Johnson is one of the least effective Vikings defensive players, with a PFF rating of only 39.8. The third-year player became a starter this year and has 1 1/2 sacks and three tackles for loss.

Bears DE Akiem Hicks vs. Vikings RG Ezra Cleveland

Hicks still hasn't had a sack since Week 3 but in the last game he helped limit the Vikings running game so that Dalvin Cook gained only 3.2 yards per run, although he did run for 96 total yards. When Hicks went out with a hamstring injury in the game, the Bears struggled to stop the run. Cleveland is a tackle by trade who went to play guard by necessity and has only a 46.2 PFF pass blocking grade with four sacks allowed. He's been better blocking the run, though pass blocking was supposed to be his strength.

Bears LB Roquan Smith vs. Vikings C Garrett Bradbury

One thing the Bears appeared unwilling to do until they faced Deshaun Watson was blitz, but they had great success doing it last week and blitzing the right player against the Vikings and their boot-heavy offense can have a dual effect because it can disrupt the slow-developing run and the bootleg passes Cousins prefers. Smith made two sacks last week and leads the NFL with 85 solo tackles. A linebacker with speed is needed to break up the runs and boot passes and Smith would be excellent blitzing the A-gap. Bradbury's strength has been run blocking and he has allowed two sacks, while PFF has him at a 51.8 level as a pass blocker.

Of Note

Bears kicker Cairo Santos has made 18 straight and 21 of 23 on the season. His last field-goal miss came in Week 3. ... Running back David Montgomery has averaged 13 carries for 96 yards the last three games after averaging 52.4 yards on 14.6 carries in his first nine games. ... TE Cole Kmet has nine receptions in his last two games after making eight in the first 11 games. ... WR Darnell Mooney needs four receptions to break the Bears rookie receptions record for wide receivers of 45 by Harlon Hill in 1954. ... RB Dalvin Cook leads the NFL in scrimmage yards (1,674). ... WR Adam Thielen's 12 TDs are a career high. ... WR Justin Jefferson needs five catches to become the first rookie WR since Michael Thomas in 2016 with 1,000 receiving yards and at least 70 catches. ... Vikings kicker Dan Bailey is making 66.7% of field goals, a career low.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven