Dec 20, 2021; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) looks on before the game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Vikings complete a trio of road games with a trip to Chicago to take on a divisional foe. It’s the Vikings at Bears this Sunday from Soldier Field in Minnesota’s third intra-division game of the season.
Vikings/Bears games are often close affairs, and I wouldn’t expect this one to be different. Several key personnel battles will have a big say in how the game plays out.
At this point, it would be disingenuous to suggest that Justin Jefferson will be battling against one CB — even one as good as Jaylon Johnson. Double teams with help from a safety is the minimum Jefferson can expect every week. Kevin O’Connell was forthright this week when talking to Paul Allen about the amount of attention Jefferson receives on a game day and how it is on another level to anyone else in the league.
Jefferson still makes important plays week in and week out and sits only behind Ja’Marr Chase (having played a game less) for receiving yards this season. The Vikings star man has caught 59 of 86 targets for 912 yards and 5 touchdowns. The records continue to fall for a man undoubtedly on his way to the Hall of Fame. It is Chicago’s turn to try and figure out the Jefferson problem, with the conundrum that the Vikings’ offense is often at its best when teams sell out on Jefferson leaving them to be able to use him as a decoy to feed the many other talented players they have on offense.
Brian O’Neill is having such a good season, and now that Christian Darrisaw is out of the equation, he is “the guy” on the Vikings OL. This week, he should largely be up against the Bears’ best pass-rusher on his side of the line. Montez Swear, who the Bears traded for last year, has 3.5 sacks this season. Chicago isn’t prolific at getting to the QB but they create pressure from multiple areas. O’Neill being able to stand up to Sweat one one-on-one will help the Vikings deal with the other rushers.
Keenan Allen beat up the Vikings last season, catching 18 of 20 targets for 215 yards, and he helped the Los Angeles Chargers win in Week 3. The Chargers beat a full-strength Vikings — before the injury crisis hit — by a 28-24 score line, largely thanks to Allen tearing the Vikings’ defense to shreds on the middle of the field intermediate routes. You would expect the Bears coaching staff to have looked at that and try to replicate it.
It’s an area the Vikings’ defense can still have problems with, especially the rotation of which defender is in the slot — where Allen mostly works from. It will mostly be Byron Murphy and Josh Metellus, but any of Camryn Bynum, Stephon Gillmore, Harrison Smith, Andrew Van Ginkel, or Ivan Pace could also be called upon. Allen has yet to reach 50 receiving yards in a single game as a Bear. The Vikings don’t need this Sunday to be the day his season suddenly explodes into life. Allen made a late appearance on the Bears injury report, which will be something to monitor.
Thomas Brown called plays for the first time for Chicago’s defeat last week. After Shane Waldron was fired, Brown moved from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator. Brown is considered a head coaching candidate next year, with Bears HC Matt Eberflus firmly on the hot seat. There were promising signs from the Bears’ offensive performance against Green Bay. However, this week, Brown must decipher the complex Brian Flores defense with a rookie QB under center.
Brown will be well known to Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell. The two were together in LA when the Rams won the Super Bowl — Brown was the assistant head coach and TE coach. At the top of the Vikings’ defensive gameplan will be to confuse Caleb Williams. How well can Brown prepare his QB to overcome that? There’s not a huge amount of evidence to form an opinion, which makes this an intriguing battle that will likely go a long way in shaping the outcome of this game.