The Bears are heading into the playoffs with a load of confidence and momentum. They won their fourth straight game Sunday and they did it in one of the NFL’s toughest environments U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis beating the Vikings 24-10.
The victory clinches the third seed in the NFC in the playoffs for the Bears and a home game next weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Vikings miss out on the playoffs with a record of 8-7-1.
The Bears won again with dominant play by the defense. The Bears held the Vikings to 164 yards of total offense. The Bears sacked Kirk Cousins four times. Akiem Hicks led the sack-attack with 1.5 sacks. Leonard Floyd had eight tackles.
On offense the Bears established their run game early. Jordan Howard scored two short rushing touchdowns in the first half. He finished the game with 109 yards on 21 carries. The Bears added a third touchdown in the fourth quarter on a three yard touchdown run by Tarik Cohen. They followed that up with another play from Matt Nagy’s bag of tricks. Mitch Trubisky threw a two-point conversion pass to linebacker Nick Kwiatkowski putting the Bears up 21-10.
Cody Parkey added a 42 yard field goal with 4:25 remaining to closeout the scoring.
The downside for the Bears was receivers Anthony Miller and Taylor Gabriel both left the game with shoulder injuries. It’s unknown how serious those injuries are. The Bears were already without receiver Allen Robinson Jr. He sat out the game with injured ribs.
The Bears finish the regular season 12-4. That’s their best regular season record since they wen 13-3 in 2006 and wound up going to the Super Bowl.
The Bears also sweep the season series with the Vikings and they finish up 5-1 against NFC North opponents. Their only loss within the division was the season opener in Green Bay a narrow 24-23 defeat.
The Bears are heading into the playoffs with a load of confidence and momentum. They won their fourth straight game Sunday and they did it in one of the NFL’s toughest environments U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis beating the Vikings 24-10.
The victory clinches the third seed in the NFC in the playoffs for the Bears and a home game next weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Vikings miss out on the playoffs with a record of 8-7-1.
The Bears won again with dominant play by the defense. The Bears held the Vikings to 164 yards of total offense. The Bears sacked Kirk Cousins four times. Akiem Hicks led the sack-attack with 1.5 sacks. Leonard Floyd had eight tackles.
On offense the Bears established their run game early. Jordan Howard scored two short rushing touchdowns in the first half. He finished the game with 109 yards on 21 carries. The Bears added a third touchdown in the fourth quarter on a three yard touchdown run by Tarik Cohen. They followed that up with another play from Matt Nagy’s bag of tricks. Mitch Trubisky threw a two-point conversion pass to linebacker Nick Kwiatkowski putting the Bears up 21-10.
Cody Parkey added a 42 yard field goal with 4:25 remaining to closeout the scoring.
The downside for the Bears was receivers Anthony Miller and Taylor Gabriel both left the game with shoulder injuries. It’s unknown how serious those injuries are. The Bears were already without receiver Allen Robinson Jr. He sat out the game with injured ribs.
The Bears finish the regular season 12-4. That’s their best regular season record since they wen 13-3 in 2006 and wound up going to the Super Bowl.
The Bears also sweep the season series with the Vikings and they finish up 5-1 against NFC North opponents. Their only loss within the division was the season opener in Green Bay a narrow 24-23 defeat.
This final week of the regular season still has a lot of meaning for the Bears. The number two seed in the NFC is still in play. The Bears can claim that if they can get a win at Minnesota Sunday and if the Rams get upset by the 49ers. Both of those things need to happen.
Coach Nagy again insists that the Bears will be all-in trying to get that number two seed saying “You understand that when you’re in the position that we’re in right now anything can happen to these other teams. You can’t just say, ‘This team is going to win’ or ‘This team is going to lose.’ Anything can happen.”
The Vikings will have everything on the line in this game. If they lose they probably won’t make the playoffs. If they win they’ll clinch a wildcard spot and a possible rematch against the Bears in the first round.
When these two teams first met on November 18 at Soldier Field the Bears came away with a 25-20 win. Eddie Jackson had a key pick-six of Kirk Cousins in the fourth quarter of that game. It was one of two interceptions the Bears defense came up with.
The Vikings have been playing with urgency the last two weeks and they’ve been playing some of their best football. They crushed the Dolphins two weeks ago 41-17. Last Sunday they won in Detroit 27-9. Kirk Cousins passed for 253 yards and three touchdowns. He had his best statistical game of the season.
This game Sunday will feature two of the top defenses in the NFL. The Bears are ranked fourth overall. The Vikings are ranked third overall. And here’s where the Bears have to be concerned. The Vikings lead the NFL in sacks with 50. Think how good the Bears’ pass rush has been this season. Well the Vikings have four more sacks than the Bears have. That puts in perspective what the Vikings are doing. So the pressure will be on the Bears’ offensive line and on Mitch Trubisky to remain poised and not make bad decisions.
The kicking game could also be big in this game. Cody Parkey missed his seventh field goal try of the season last week. He has not be consistent.
The other big factor will be the noise level in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota. That crowd will be at fever pitch knowing that a playoff birth will on the line for the Vikings.
Keep in mind the starting time for this game has been changed from noon central time to 3:25 central time to accommodate national television. That’s how big this game will be.