Chicago Bears: Odds, Preview of Week 15 Matchup vs. Minnesota Vikings

The Chicago Bears take on the Minnesota Vikings in Week 15. Do they just go through the motion the rest of the season or do they give a full effort?

The Chicago Bears host the Minnesota Vikings in the first of two games in the last four weeks of the season. Also, they’re playing in front of another national audience on Monday Night Football. It will be their final primetime game of the season. Thankfully there will be more final things happening the rest of the way.

The Bears enter the game losers of seven of their last eight games and, after starting 3-2, now own a 4-9 record. Half of their victories this season came against the winless (at the time) Detroit Lions.

The Vikings come into the game with a 6-7 record. They are tied with Washington for the final playoff spot (Washington owns the tiebreaker). Additionally, they are a game behind the San Francisco 49ers for the sixth playoff spot.

The Bears technically are still in the race, but they have just a 0.2 percent chance of making it. They need a major miracle for that to happen. However, they are in a great position to play spoilers. They could knock the Vikings out of playoff contention by winning their two games between the teams.

Here are the odds and a preview of the Week 15 matchup between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings:

Moneyline

Vikings: -200
Bears: +160

Point Spread

Vikings:  -3.5
Bears:  +3.5

Over/Under

43.5

Over:  -117
Under:  -103

Game Preview

It looks like Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy is out no matter what happens the rest of the season. The only question is if he gets another opportunity to coach against the Vikings. New rules state that teams can start their coaching search in the final two weeks of the regular season. The Bears could get a jump on their search and fire Nagy before that. That means either this week or next week could be the end of the Nagy era in Chicago.

In the meantime, the Bears look to spoil the Vikings’ playoff chances. They had an opportunity to put a dent in the Green Bay Packers’ chances of securing the top seed of the NFC. If they won, the Packers would have dropped to the fourth seed. They didn’t, however, and Green Bay took over the top spot as a result.

Despite the losing record, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is having a very good season. He has completed 67 percent of his passes and is tied with Aaron Rodgers for the best interception percentage. Furthermore, he ranks seventh in the league in passing yards and sixth in passing touchdowns.

The Bears’ secondary, already struggling when at full strength, had a bunch of bodies go down last week. Xavier Crawford suffered a concussion and Artie Burns went down with an ankle injury. Currently, they only have Jaylon Johnson and Kindle Vildor as the only cornerbacks healthy.

Robert Quinn is having himself a great season. After recording just two sacks in his first season in Chicago he’s gone on a redemption tour of sorts in 2021. He has 14 sacks, good for third in the league. Also, he’s on pace to break Richard Dent‘s record for most sacks in a season (17.5). For the Bears to have a chance, he needs to continue his great play and put pressure on Cousins.

Minnesota ranks 11th in points scored at 26.5 points per game.

The Vikings also have a good running game with Dalvin Cook. He has 978 yards and, barring something unforeseen, he’ll eclipse the 1,000 rushing yards mark for the third straight season. Against the Bears, however, he struggles.

In five games against the Bears, Cook has just 314 yards rushing. His 3.5 yards per run average is way below his career 4.8 yards per run average.

The Bears are struggling against the run, though, so Cook may have a big game. Chicago averages 24th in rushing yards allowed and 21st in rushing touchdowns allowed. Additionally, they’ll be without two of their three starting defensive linemen. Akiem Hicks has an ankle injury that forced him to miss four straight games. The team just placed Eddie Goldman on the COVID list.

The Bears’ offense struggled all season long but did have a big first half against the Packers. They went into the game averaging 16.8 points per game but exploded for 27 points in the first half. The problem is that they reverted back to form and scored just three points in the second half.

If the Bears can give a more balanced effort against Minnesota they have a chance to have another big offensive outburst. What they did in the first half against Green Bay was impressive since the Packers rank seventh in the league in points allowed. The Vikings aren’t as good.

Minnesota ranks 25th in points allowed and 29th in yards allowed. As a result, this could be the remedy Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears’ offense needs desperately. Additionally, Fields and David Montgomery could have big games on the ground. The Vikings rank 27th in rushing yards allowed and the Bears rank seventh in rushing.

The difference in the game could be which offense handles the opponent’s pass rush. The Vikings lead the league in sacks and the Bears rank fourth. Whoever gets to the quarterback will end up controlling the game.