Bears (6-5) at Vikings (6-5)
The Sunday night game this week in the NFL is a big one, with first place in the NFC North on the line between Chicago and Minnesota, with the Vikings 3.5-point home favorites on WagerWeb.com.
Probably only the North division winner will make the playoffs this year (at least as the wild card race currently looks), so Sunday’s game takes on added significance.
Vikings RB Adrian Peterson has owned the Bears in the past: In three games against Chicago, the Vikings’ explosive rusher has 423 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns. Peterson became the first of only two backs to top 100 yards against the Bears in their first meeting Oct. 19 at Soldier Field, a 48-41 Chicago win. The Bears have the league’s fifth-best run defense (80.7 ypg) this season.
Since passing for a season-high 298 yards with four interceptions in that Week 7 game at Chicago, Vikings QB Gus Frerotte’s yards have declined in each of the past four games (182, 151, 138, 120). He has averaged 21.5 pass attempts in four games since that defeat while the Vikings have averaged 34.0 rushes. Peterson has run for an average of 124.0 yards in that span, compared to 84.2 during Frerotte’s first five starts.
When Chicago QB Kyle Orton has a 100 passer rating, as he did in the first meeting with Minnesota, the Bears are 4-0. Orton hasn’t thrown an interception in his past 185 attempts, a franchise record. The Vikings, meanwhile, have had 22 sacks in five home games.
Minnesota’s run defense has been great again, allowing only 70.4 yards rushing this season. Bears rookie RB Matt Forte managed only 56 yards on 20 carries in that earlier meeting. Forte had a career-high 132 yards rushing last week against St. Louis. The Vikings have allowed just three 100-yard rushers in the past 59 games.
In the Bears’ six victories, they’ve run the ball more than 30 times four times. Only once in their five losses did they run 30 times or more.
This could be the final game of the regular season for Vikings defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams, who are facing four-game suspensions after testing positive for a banned diuretic.
These teams have split their past 12 games. In that Week 7 win, Chicago blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown and recovered a muffed punt in the end zone for another. The Bears also intercepted Frerotte four times.
Since losing their home opener to the Colts 18-15, the Vikings have won four in a row at the Metrodome, the last three by a total of 10 points.
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