Three weeks after an overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the Chicago Bears will receive a rematch, this time at U.S. Bank Stadium in the spotlight of “Monday Night Football.”
The Vikings’ 30-27 overtime win on Nov. 24 was part of a seven-game losing streak for the Bears (4-9). Meanwhile, the Vikings (11-2) have won six in a row and can clinch a playoff berth with a win Monday.
As kickoff approaches, here’s our snapshot look at the game.
Players in the spotlight
Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson said he thought he and the Bears defense played Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson well in the first meeting. Jefferson had just two catches for 27 yards, though Johnson was flagged for pass interference twice against him.
But the Bears had a different problem in that meeting: second-year receiver Jordan Addison.
Addison had a career-high eight catches for 162 yards, and he followed that performance in Week 14 with eight catches for 133 yards in the Vikings’ win over the Atlanta Falcons. The latter was part of a day in which quarterback Sam Darnold threw for a season-high 347 yards and five touchdowns.
The Bears also have to account for tight end T.J. Hockenson, who had seven catches for 114 yards in their first meeting.
“(Jefferson) is an explosive player, but they have a balanced offense,” defensive coordinator Eric Washington said. “They have other players that can really hurt you. The tight end position, the complementary receivers. Clearly he’s a person that can take the roof off, that can blow the top off the coverage, that can work in the underneath area. But at the same time, you can’t sell out everything that you’re doing to try and affect one player and then compromise what you have to do to actually get off the field and win a football game.”
Washington called Addison “almost a clone of Jefferson.” Bears quarterback Caleb Williams played with Addison in 2022 at USC and said he’s “super happy” for the success of his former teammate.
“He’s probably going to hate that I say this, but he’s not the largest human. He’ll probably text me about it or something,” Williams said. “He’s not the largest human, but he still plays like he’s 6-5. He’ll go up and get the ball in traffic. And then it comes down to his detail, his routes and I think he’s, if not the best, one of the best that I’ve played with for sure, and in the league at route running and getting open.”
Pressing question
Can Caleb Williams build on his last performance against the Vikings?
Though they ultimately didn’t get it done in overtime in the last meeting, Williams and the Bears did a good job handling the Vikings defense under coordinator Brian Flores.
Williams threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns and helped the Bears score 17 points in the fourth quarter. Now he will have the chance to face a division rival for a second time with a blueprint for what worked.
“Being able to be decisive, knowing where guys are, knowing where my hots are, that still applies to that,” Williams said. “Obviously we’re going to throw in a few wrinkles, they’re going to try to throw in a few wrinkles and try and make us mess up, make mistakes. It comes down to us knowing our job, doing it well, being detailed, being decisive and going out there and playing violent.”
The Vikings sacked Williams three times and had four quarterback hits in the game, with one of the sacks in overtime to set back the Bears’ opening drive. Williams, who took 12 of his 56 sacks in the last two games since the Vikings outing, called the overtime sack “stupid.” While acknowledging many different factors have played into the sacks total, he said he is still learning and developing the “quick switch” he needs to make the correct decision in the moment.
“Being able to snap out of it right in that moment, right in that situation, being able to make the right play at the right time is the next point (of emphasis),” he said.
Keep an eye on …
Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen
Allen had a season-high nine catches for 86 yards in the first game against the Vikings, and offensive coordinator Chris Beatty indicated there was good reason for that production.
Beatty, also the wide receivers coach, has called Allen “the smartest player I’ve ever seen” and said he functions like a second coach, especially since Beatty was elevated to his new role. He said those smarts come in handy against a complicated defense like the one the Vikings run.
“This defense is so complicated with all the different looks that they give you, all the different ways they drop guys in and drop guys out,” Beatty said. “And Keenan just has a knack for being able to see those things before they happen. Like a lot of receivers see them as they happen. He can sit back and tell you what’s happening before it happens.
“He’s always generally a step or a half-step faster than everybody else, which against a defense like this, as good as they are, and the vets that they have, you need every little advantage you can get.”
The follow-up
Thomas Brown said he and the Bears staff and players did “a lot of truth talking” after the 38-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the team’s worst of the season in Brown’s interim coaching debut.
He said he is self-reflective every day, including in the aftermath of the loss, in which the offense had no points and just 4 yards in the first half.
“It’s about how can I improve to be the best I can for this entire unit,” Brown said. “The ultimate grade is having success during the football game, so that’s still not where we need to be for sure. I’m always trying to find ways to adapt and adjust myself, how I call the game. Also, (it’s) picking and choosing spots to be more aggressive at times.”
Brown had a much better showing last month in his second game as offensive coordinator against the Vikings. He was encouraged in that outing by “just having answers” to the Vikings’ pressure, but he said he needs to have “different answers” this time around against Flores’ defense.
“This defense tries to dictate the flow of an offense, makes it really hard when it comes to what you call, when you call it and having to always make alerts,” Brown said. “(It’s) having built-in answers within a play but also taking advantage of some spots to take some shots down the field.”
Injury report
D’Andre Swift practiced Saturday for the first time this week and is questionable for Monday night’s game with a groin injury. Swift is expected to play, but it marks the third time in the last four games he has had an injury designation of questionable, beginning with the Week 12 meeting with the Vikings at Soldier Field.
Brown said Swift “moved around some” during individual and a couple of team periods during practice and “we’ll see” in regards to his availability. Swift was confident he’ll be in the lineup.
“I’m good,” Swift said when asked if he will be good to play Monday.
A groin injury landed Swift on the injury report before the first Vikings game, and he carried the ball 13 times for 30 yards in the 30-27 overtime loss. He did have a 30-yard reception.
Swift was not on the injury report the next week against the Detroit Lions but was questionable with a quad injury heading to San Francisco last week. Now, he’s battling the groin injury again and has had only 107 yards on 38 carries (2.8 average) over the previous three games. That has dropped his average per carry on the season from 4.1 to 3.8.
The offense has been held under 80 yards rushing in five of the last six games since the 202-yard effort at Washington. The Bears had 179 yards in the Nov. 17 loss to the Green Bay Packers, and sandwiched around that performance are games in which they totaled 69, 73, 78, 78 and 68 rushing yards. The offense ranks 23rd in the league at 105.8 rushing yards per game, but it has been dipping and the Vikings boast the NFL’s No. 2 run defense.
Other than a four-game stretch beginning in Week 4 against the Rams in which the Bears piled up 613 a combined rushing yards (4.75 per carry), it has been mostly a slog the rest of the season. In the other nine games, the team has averaged only 3.69 yards per carry on the ground.
Running back Roschon Johnson was ruled out with a concussion, which will leave Travis Homer and perhaps Darrynton Evans, if he is elevated from the practice squad, as other ball carriers.
Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter (knee) was ruled out and will miss a game for the first time in his career. Offensive lineman Ryan Bates (concussion) is also out.
For the Vikings, cornerback Stephon Gilmore is questionable with a hamstring injury.
Predictions
Brad Biggs (8-5)
The Bears did a nice job of handling the variety of pressures the Vikings use on defense in the Week 12 meeting at Soldier Field. They had answers and Caleb Williams, for the most part, got the ball out quickly. The degree of difficulty is going to be ratcheted up in the rematch. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has more tape on Thomas Brown and what he likes to lean on as a play caller, and the rowdy U.S. Bank Stadium crowd will be challenging. With the Bears struggling to run the ball even against average defenses — Minnesota ranks No. 2 in the league — it could be a challenge. And while the Bears prevented Justin Jefferson from going off on them, Jordan Addison had a field day in the first meeting and T.J. Hockenson made some big plays as well.
Vikings 34, Bears 21
Colleen Kane (9-4)
The Bears showed they are capable of playing the Vikings competitively in the teams’ first meeting. The offense and quarterback Caleb Williams handled a tough test against the Vikings pressure and mounted a comeback to force overtime. That was three weeks ago, but a lot has happened in Lake Forest since then. The 25-point loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the first game post-Matt Eberflus does not instill confidence the players’ heads are where they need to be. They’re saying the right things again this week amid their seven-game losing streak — about continuing to play with pride, respect for their teammates and gratitude for the game. But it remains just talk until it actually results in a win.
Vikings 28, Bears 21
Dan Wiederer (8-5)
The Vikings are a really good team. The Bears are not. End of story. Anyone who watched the Bears’ 25-point loss to the 49ers could recognize a team that appeared emotionally spent and is struggling to find the proper energy reserves to stay competitive late in another last-place season. Sure, the Bears took these Vikings to overtime three weeks ago. But they were also trailing by 11 points at the two-minute warning and are now going on the road for the rematch. The Bears defense also has looked like a shell of itself recently, which doesn’t bode well against an explosive Vikings offense.
Vikings 27, Bears 16
