Minnesota Vikings (8-2) at Chicago Bears (4-6)

Kickoff: Noon, Sunday

Where: Soldier Field, Chicago

TV: Fox (Kevin Kugler, Daryl Johnston, Laura Okmin)

Radio: ESPN AM-1000 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Jason McKie)

Spanish Radio: Latino Mix 93.5 FM (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)

The Line: Vikings by 3 1/2, over/under 39 1/2 (Fan Duel).

Chicago Bears On SI Pick: Vikings 23, Bears 8

The Series: The teams meet for the 126th time. The Vikings hold a 66-58-2 series lead. The Bears have lost five of the last six even though they won the last game 12-10 at Minnesota. They are 33-27-2 at home in the series.

The Coaches: Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell owns a 28-17 record in his third season. He is 3-1 against the Bears and 14-8 on the road overall.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus owns a 14-30 record in his third season and a 1-3 mark against Minnesota. The Bears have an 11-12 record in home games under Eberflus.

The Teams: The Bears come off their second walk-off shocker of the season, losing to Green Bay on a blocked Cairo Santos 46-yard field goal try, 20-19, for their fourth straight defeat. They now try to stop Minnesota (8-2), a team surging in second in the NFC North with a three-game winning streak behind QB Sam Darnold and WR Justin Jefferson. They just beat Tennesee 23-13. It’s Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams trying to handle the blitzing scheme of Vikings coordinator Brian Flores and the potent Vikings offense attack a Bears defense reeling a bit after allowing Green Bay’s go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter last week.   

Stat Leaders:  Vikings QB Sam Darnold is 199 of 293 (67.9%) with 2,387 yards, 19 TDs and 10 interceptions for a passer rating of 100.0. The Vikings are led in rushing by RB Aaron Jones, the former Packers back, with 692 yards on 157 carries (4.4 yards per carry) and two TDs. WR Justin Jefferson leads the Vikings in catches (59), receiving yards (912) and TDs (5).  …  LB Ivan Pace leads the Vikings defense in tackles with 59 while OLB Andrew Van Ginkel leads in tackles for loss with a league-high 13 and in sacks with 8.0. S Camryn Bynum has a team-high three interceptions.

For the Bear, QB Caleb Williams is 201 for 325 (61.8%) with nine TDs and five interceptions for a passer rating of 82.5. D’Andre Swift leads the Bears in rushing with 635 yards on 155 atempts and his five rushing TDs is tied with Roschon Johnson for the team lead. WR DJ Moore leads the Bears in receptions with 47 and is tied with Cole Kmet for TD receptions with three. WR Rome Odunze leads in receiving yards with 479. … LB TJ Edwards leads in tackles with 78 and is tied with Montez Sweat for the lead in tackles for loss with five. Gervon Dexter leads in sacks with 4.0 while CB Jaylon Johnson has the lead in interceptions with two.

Injury Report: For the Vikings, TE Josh Oliver (wrist) is out. DL Gabriel Murphy (knee) and TE Nick Muse (hand) are questionable.

For the Bears, G Ryan Bates (concussion) and S Elijah Hicks (ankle) are out. WR Keenan Allen (ankle), T Kiran Amegadjie (calf) and RB D’Andre Swift (groin) are questionable.

Matching Up: The Vikings are 15th on offense, 13th in passing and 19th in rushing. They are 10th in scoring. Minnesota’s defense is ranked 10th, 28th against the pass and first against the run. They are fourth in points allowed.

The Bears are 29th on offense, 30th passing and 22nd at rushing. They are 22nd in points scored. Chicago’s defense ranks 14th overall, ninth against the pass and 23rd against the run. They are seventh in points allowed.

Of Note:  Williams has not thrown an interception in 146 attempts. … Williams has been sacked a league-high total of 41 times and the Vikings are third in sacks with 35. … The Bears rank No. 1 in red zone defense (40.6%). … Minnesota is plus-4 in turnover differential and the Bears plus-9, but the Vikings are 24-2 under O’Connell in games when they win or are even in turnovers. … Darnold’s total of 19 TD passes is a career high. …  The Bears are 3-1 when they lead at halftime and 1-5 when they trail at halftime. … Matt Eberflus has a 2-8 record for his career in replay challenges including 0-3 this season. …  Opponents have scored first in every single Bears game. … The Bears will have their starting offensive line intact for the first time since Oct. 27 against Washington. They had played together five straight games at that point. … The Vikings defense has two TD returns on interceptions (Van Ginkel) and one fumble return for a TD. … Minnesota is 8-0 this season when it outrushes the opponent. … Darnold is tied for second in passes of 25 yards or more with 24, trailing only Brock Purdy. … Jefferson leads the NFL with 17 catches of 20 yards or more.

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Key Individual Matchups

Bears CB Jaylon Johnson vs. Vikings WR Justin Jefferson

There can be little doubt the Bears will put Johnson on Jefferson as much as possible. Johnson has a 65.3 passer rating against and has allowed 57.1% completions (20 of 35) when targeted. He has two interceptions and has allowed no TD passes this year, and three over the last three years after he gave up 10 his first two seasons.  Jefferson has had 81 receiving yards or more in eight games but his yards per game of 91.2 is the lowest it’s been since his rookie season. When targeting Jefferson, QBs have an impressive passer rating of 103.4, but it’s the lowest passer rating when targeted of his career. 

Bears DE Montez Sweat vs. Vikings RT Brian O’Neill

O’Neill has given up one sack this season and is graded the eight-best tackle out of 77 Pro Football Focus rates. He’s rated the eighth best pass blocker and 13th best run blocker among tackles on either side and has been flagged for four penalties, twice for holding, once for a false start and once for illegal formation.  Sweat has been having a difficult time registering sacks since the month of November. He still has 3 ½ sacks and made them all over the course of four straight games.   He has 14 pressures according to Stathead/Pro Football Reference and is well off the pace of last year when he had 40 for the season.

Bears WR DJ Moore vs. Vikings CB Stephon Gilmore

The 34-year-old, 13-year veteran cornerback for Minnesota is a five-time Pro Bowl player and former defensive player of the year with the Patriots. He is with his sixth team and fifth in five seasons and is posting a solid 85.7 passer rating against with 61.7% completions allowed. He has given up two TDs. Moore is coming off his best game in terms of catches since Week 3 at Indianapolis. He had seven catches for 62 yards, is at 47 catches on 73 targets (64.4%) but is at a career low for average yardage (9.8 per catch). He came into the season averaging more than 14 yards a catch.  

Bears DT Gervon Dexter vs. Vikings LG Blake Brandel

Brandel is graded 48th of 77 guards by PFF and wasn’t necessarily the intended starter. The 6-foot-7, 315-pounder has been a better pass blocker than run blocker. He’s graded 45th as a run blocker, 34th as a pass blocker. He might not have been starting but Dalton Risner suffered a back injury in training camp and was on IR until early November. Dexter’s ranking as one of the best defensive tackles in pass rush win rate has declined now and he’s 20th after spending most of the season in the top 10. He has gone five straight games without a sack, although he has already broken his rookie mark for QB hits with 14 and tied his rookie mark of 17 pressures. Dexter, who is supposed to be a disruptor in this scheme as a 3-technique, hasn’t had a tackle for loss since the Sept. 29 win over the Rams  and has just three on the year. He replaced Justin Jones this year after the free agent had 22 TFLs in two seasons.

Bears RT Darnell Wright vs. Vikings OLB Andrew Van Ginkel

The 6-4, 242-pound Van Ginkel won’t necessarily rush off the Bears’ right edge all the time. They move him around almost as a wild-card rusher. Sometimes he lines up on the edge and stunts to the middle. He’s always applying pressure from different positions, much the way the Packers did with Clay Matthews. However, it’s usually a starting point over Wright. Van Ginkel’s speed and knowledge of defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ blitzing system make him dangerous, and he has eight sacks with two interceptions. Both went for TD returns.  Wright   is graded 25th best tackle in the league by Pro Football Focus, but as been a better run blocker than pass blocker. He is ninth in run block win rate among all tackles according to ESPN.

Bears LB Tremaine Edmunds vs. Vikings TE TJ Hockenson

The problem with trying to shut down Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison with zones, like the Bears use, is it often leaves the middle linebacker trying to cover a wider area and the tight end can be open. Edmunds has gradually slid down the linebacker ranking charts after a fast start and is 66th on PFF’s grading out of 82 linebackers.  By Stathead stats, he is having a very solid year defending the pass with a 65.1 passer rating against, very low for a linebacker. He’s been generally less effective against the run. Hockensen will be in his fourth game post-knee surgery and appears ready to make strides. He’ll get used in the seams and underneath the coverage. He has 13 catches for 112 yards in three games. Tight ends have hit the Bears pass defense with some bigger numbers this year, so expect he’ll get looks.

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