The Hype is REAL! Vikings FAVORED to beat Chicago at home
Joe Johnson
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One thing that is for certain this crazy, crazy year/season is that it’s really hard to know what to think of the Minnesota Vikings. They started the season 0-2 in what was such a disastrous start to the season that seasoned authors were literally writing articles with titles like ‘Fire Everyone.‘
That was a quick knee-jerk reaction from people who thought that somehow this young/unproven Vikings defense would somehow improve upon the 10-6 record the seasoned/veteran/continuity at levels rarely seen in the NFL squad from the season before. That’s not to say that those games weren’t god awful, they were, with time of possession ratios that were once purely theoretical, but it was a pretty fast and drastic drop from SOME in Vikings media picking the Vikings as the NFC representative in the 2020/21 Super Bowl.
Then came the next batch of games, where the team lost two games by ONE point, including a heartbreaker against the then NFC powerhouse Seattle Seahawks IN Seattle. Despite the fact that the Vikings’ secondary has the same turnover rate as a DinkyTown Subway, this team showed that it was THIS close to beating one of the best teams in the league and, more interestingly, stymying one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Russell Wilson.
Then came the Atlanta Falcons, a previously winless team that most thought the Vikings would pick apart before going into the Bye. We all know what happened then, and the fallout that came from it, as the team decided to jettison the recently acquired Yannick Ngakoue for LESS than they gave up to get him from the Jags. It was thought that, despite what general manager Rick Spielman told the media, the season was over and we were on the precipice of a fire sale of any Vikings star with trade value that happens to be born before 1990.
Spielman preached patience and said that no one was giving up on the season. To wait a couple of weeks to see where things were. He was mocked for that at the time by writers like … Me, and in retrospect, it’s hard to think that he knew what was to come, but he still deserves credit for hitting the nail on the head.
Case in point? The Vikings are going into Chicago this weekend, which is the equivalent of their Wuhan wet market the past decade or so, and are actually favored to WIN. That’s not a typo, the Vikings are favored to win by 2.5 points according to Sports Betting Dime’s point spread.
While some may say, what’s the big deal? The Bears aren’t great?
Well, that’s true. But if anything this is a testament as to how crazy the NFL can be and how you never really know how difficult a team’s schedule is until really the week of each game. Most circled this game as a definite ‘L’ at least before Week 3, or going into the Bye… Or really, even after the Packers upset. That was then.
The Bears were 3-0 to start the season, beating the Lions, Giants, and Falcons. Over the next stretch, they lost to the Colts, beat the Bucs by one and then bested the Teddy Bridgewater led Carolina Panthers. For those of you who can’t find their abacus’ (abaci?), that means that the Bears started with the exact opposite record of the Vikings (5-1 to the Vikings’ 1-5).
The last three weeks have been opposites, as well, as the Vikings came out of the Bye with upset wins over the Packers and arguably the Detroit Lions. The Bears put up 10 points in a loss to the Rams, lost to the Saints in overtime by a field goal, and also lost to the Titans by a touchdown. That means they’re going into Monday Night’s game on a three-game slide.
If there ever was a ‘Must Win’ game this early in the season for EITHER the Vikings or Bears, that’d be it. The Bears desperately need to get back on track to keep up with the NFC West (although the 49ers’ offense is essentially the exemplification as to why the XFL went out of business again), and the Vikings need to continue to win if they want to dig themselves out of the 1-5 hole they dug themselves.
Unfortunately for those in the Windy City, the Vikings feel a lot like the 2012/2015 teams in that they’re riding on the back of their running back. Dalvin Cook has arguably had the best back-to-back game run in team (or league (based on zero research (if only there was a way for me to look something like that up!))) history. With nearly 370 yards and SIX touchdowns, Dalvin is playing at a level that makes him the clear MVP (especially as we have a sample of a game that he didn’t play in to show just what his impact is on this offense/team).
Then again, the Bears have Nick Foles, a quarterback that really needs no introduction to anyone who is a big enough Vikings fan to be reading this article (this far or in general). With two big wins, though, and finally a week in which the team won’t be hiring cornerbacks off the street to compensate for horrible injuries like a punctured lung or the scary injury that Cameron Dantzler had against the Packers, it’s easy to see why those in the betting world have picked the team with the hot hand Monday Night.
Imagine if they had kept Ngakoue…