Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings preview and betting odds

The Series: The 130th game. The Vikings lead the series 69-58-2, including a playoff game in the 1994 season by the Bears 35-18. The Vikings have won three straight, including the 2025 season opener 27-24 at Chicago. The Vikings have won eight of the last nine. The last Bears win in the series was 12-10 on Nov. 27, 2023, also their last win at Minnesota.

The Coaches: Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell is 38-24 in his fourth season including two playoff losses. He is 19-11 in home games and has a 6-1 record against the Bears. 

Bears coach Ben Johnson is 6-3 in his first season and 3-2 in road games. He is 0-1 against the Vikings but as an offensive coordinator with Detroit or head coach facing O'Connell's Minnesota teams he is 5-2.

The matchup: The Bears' first NFC North rematch of the season, after they led 17-6 in the season opener to start the fourth quarter and fell 27-24 in the first NFL start for Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy. The two teams seem heading in different directions at this point with the Bears having won six of their last seven while Minnesota has lost three of its last four.

 The Bears come into the game after staging a second straight comeback win and the fourth of this season for QB Caleb Williams last week by beating the New York Giants 24-20, leading to the firing of New York coach Brian Daboll. Their running game has come alive with 183.4 yards rushing per the last five games behind RBs Kyle Monangai and D'Andre Swift. They are second in rushing, 11th in passing, third on offense and seventh in scoring.

The Vikings got McCarthy back Nov. 2 after he had been out five straight games with an ankle injury and he led a win over Detroit on the road, 27-24, but comes into this game off a home-field loss to the Ravens 27-19. McCarthy hasn't won yet at home in his career. The Vikings lost their other home game with him at QB, 22-6 to Atlanta. For his career, the Chicago area native has completed 53.7% of his passes (58 of 108) for 692 yards with five touchdowns, six interceptions and a passer rating of 65.8. Carson Wentz quarterbacked the Vikings to a 2-3 record while McCarthy was out injured. Jordan Mason burned the Bears in the opener by triggering a Vikings comeback with his running and averages 4.4 yards a carry. Aaron Jones has missed four games and hasn't had more than nine carries in a game this season.

Minnesota's defense under coordinator Brian Flores last year during a 14-3 season led the NFL in takeaways, but this year ranks 20th with nine takeaways while the Vikings' offense has turned it over 16 times. Only one other team has committed more turnovers. The Bears are plus-14 in turnover ratio, best in the NFL.

Key injuries: For the Bears, LB T.J. Edwards (hamstring) missed the last game and CB Kyler Gordon (groin) is on IR, along with CB Jaylon Johnson (groin) and now DE Dayo Odeyingbo (Achilles).

For the Vikings, CB Jeff Okudah missed last week with a concussion. Safety Theo Jackson had a concussion but cleared protocol on Monday. DE Jonathan Greenard has a shoulder injury. ... Since returning from injury two games ago, RB Aaron Jones has averaged 6.9 yards a carry. He was averaging 3.4 per rush in October when he went out. ... C Ryan Kelly could have his window open to come back from IR this week after a second concussion.

 Of note: Gordon's replacement, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, has three sacks in two gams and with one more Sunday would be the first DB with four sacks in their first three games with a team since 1985. ... Bear DE Montez Sweat has sacks in four straight games and with one more would have the longest stretch of consecutive games by a Bears player since Robert Quinn in 2021. Five straight would also be Sweat's career high. ... Jalen Nailor led Minnsota last week in receiving yards with 124 and a TD on five receptions for his first career 100-yard day. ... The Vikings committed eight false starts in their home game last week.

Bears and Vikings betting trends

• The Bears are 5-2 against the spread in their last seven
• It's been over the total in five of the last six Bears road games
• The total has been over in four of the last five Bears NFC North games
• Minnesota is 2-4 in its last six against the spread
• It's been over the total in six of the last seven Vikings games
• Four of the last six between these teams have been under the total
• The Vikings are 7-3 in their last 10 ATS as a favorite