3 matchups that could decide Bears vs. Vikings

Instead, I'm going to focus on the individual battles that could be key to coming out on top. What are some of the most significant ones to look out for on Sunday afternoon?

Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison vs. Bears' secondary

I know jokes get thrown around about McCarthy's self-given superhero-esque nickname. The Vikings do, in fact, employ a superhuman on their team, though. His name is Justin Jefferson.

The Bears have actually done a good job at containing Jefferson in recent years. He has averaged just over 91 yards against Chicago over his career, but that is largely due to reaching the century mark in four out of his first five matchups with the Bears. He has averaged only 45 yards in the four games since that point. Still, three of those games included battles against Jaylon Johnson, who won't be on the field for Chicago. JJ is fully capable of taking over any game. The Bears will have to heavily key in on him.

They can't throw too much attention towards Jefferson, though. Jordan Addison was a massive thorn in their side last year. He lit up the Bears' secondary for 225 yards across their two games last season (including a 163-yard performance). We saw Chicago struggle (mightily) to contain the Bengals' elite receiver duo of Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins a few weeks ago. If the Vikings come away with a win, it will probably be because the Bears' secondary can't hang with Minnesota's receivers.

Ben Johnson vs. Brian Flores

Is it hypocritical to throw shade at the fact that the "QB battle" narrative gets overplayed and then include a "coaching battle" here? I don't know. What I do know is this feels a lot closer to the Mahomes vs. Allen of coaching matchups than Williams vs. McCarthy does for the QB position. So I'm going with it.

I know the Vikings' defense hasn't exactly blown up the stat sheets this year, but Flores is still one of the league's most well-respected defensive coordinators. They're severely lacking talent in the secondary but have largely held their own due to the Flores effect.

I'm incredibly excited to see the chess match between the two coaches. Minnesota's gameplan was surprisingly light on blitzes in Week One, and conventional wisdom would say he might follow a similar path with how well Williams has played while facing extra rushers in recent weeks. However, Jonathan Greenard going down with a shoulder injury last week could throw a wrench in that plan.

Bears' offensive line vs. Vikings' front seven

No unit in the entire league is playing better right now than they were in Week One more than the Bears' offensive line. The improvement has truly been remarkable. They have averaged over 183 yards on the ground over the past five games.

The rushing stats don't look bad on their surface in the Week One loss, when they ran for 119 yards on 26 attempts. However, those numbers are skewed by Williams taking six carries for 58 yards. The Vikings' defensive line not only controlled the line of scrimmage; They dominated it. D'Andre Swift had only 53 yards on 17 carries.

Teams have found success against Minnesota when they stay committed to the ground game. Their two best games (by far) from a run defense perspective have come against Detroit and Philadelphia, and both offenses barely cleared 20 attempts in those games. Every other team (besides Chicago in Week One) has run the ball at least 29 times and found much more success. The Vikings are also 1-4 in those games. The recipe for success is there. The Bears just need to use it.