Vikings at Bears, Polar Opposites
On Monday night the Minnesota Vikings will travel to the ultra famous Soldier Field of Chicago to take on the Chicago Bears. Coming into the season people circled this game on the calendar, as many thought that it could be a game that determined the NFC North winner or at least have some kind of playoff implication.
Well, they could not have been more wrong. The Vikings have flourished so far this season reaching a 11-3 record through week 15. On the complete other spectrum, the Bears have looked out of sync and without inspiration for much of the season and their 5-9 record has earned them a spot in the top three of the most disappointing teams of the year.
During the off-season both the Vikings and Bears added Pro Bowl quarterbacks to their rosters, Brett Favre and Jay Cutler respectively, and looked to be in perfect position to make runs at the NFC North division title. But, the outcomes have been polar opposites, and it is due in large part to the difference in play of Favre and Cutler.
Favre is truly having the best season of his career, and remember he has won a Super Bowl and has three MVP’s to his name. He has literally been reborn as a quarterback, and has made the change from routinely throwing over twenty interceptions a year to taking care of the ball and has only thrown seven so far this season. Even with greatly decreasing his turnovers Favre hasn’t lost an ounce of his gunslinger magic as he is fourth in the league with 27 touchdowns.
While Favre is having an MVP type year, Cutler is playing the worst football of his career. Cutler was supposed to come into Chicago and immediately give a shot of adrenaline to the Bears offense. But, he has had quite a different effect and instead of helping the Bears he has hampered them with numerous costly turnovers. Cutler leads the NFL with 25 interceptions, and all the turnovers have spilled over and hurt the defense as well. This season the Bears once powerhouse defense is giving up a whopping 23 points a game as a result of being put into bad spots due to offensive turnovers.
With that being said let’s get back to the match up between the two teams this coming Monday night. On paper the Vikings should have a very easy time defeating the Bears, but as they always say the game isn’t played on paper. The Vikings have been in a rut lately, losing two out of their last three games, and have not looked anything like the team that opened the season 10-1. With that in mind, I think it will be a close game with the Vikings prevailing 24-21 on a late Ryan Longwell field goal.
Garrett Hill wrote this article for SportEvents.com, which helps die-hard football fans find NFL Events and especially Super Bowl Tickets
Vikes match up well with the Bears in every way you look at it. If they can’t get a win Monday, then consider their probelms to be “serious”.