Week 15 continues tonight with a doubleheader on TSN, including an NFC North showdown between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.

Minnesota snapped its two-game slide with a 36-28 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. Now the Vikings need a win to stay in hunt for the NFC’s final playoff spot.

 

Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears

Line: Vikings -6
Total: 44.5

 

Vikings desperate for a victory

The Vikings kept their playoff dream alive with their win over the Steelers, although they nearly blew what seemed like an insurmountable lead. Minnesota jumped out to a 29-0 cushion but needed to knock down an end-zone pass in the final seconds to ensure victory.

Dalvin Cook turned in a monster performance, with 205 yards and two touchdowns just 11 days after dislocating his shoulder. The Vikings run game cranked out 242 yards in total, but while they were dominating on the ground, Kirk Cousins was struggling through the air.

Cousins completed a season-low 14 passes on 31 attempts and was picked off twice, en route to posting a 22.7 QBR. He was missing his security blanket, Adam Thielen, and not even another spectacular Justin Jefferson performance could make Cousins’ numbers look respectable.

Jefferson caught seven passes for 79 and a score, his fourth receiving touchdown over the past four games. He’s been a monster over the second half of the season, averaging 131 receiving yards over his past five outings, and is now just 68 receiving yards shy of setting the all-time record for a player through his first two seasons.

Defensively, the Vikings continued to struggle. They coughed up 28 points and 375 yards and will once again be without their top two defensive linemen, Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen, versus the Bears.

Minnesota has allowed 28 or more points in four straight games, and in five of their past six contests overall. The unit has been wildly disappointing this season, ranking 25th in scoring defence, and 29th in yards allowed.

 

Bear down

A struggling Vikings defence presents an excellent chance for a Justin Fields breakout game. The rookie quarterback looked better last week versus Green Bay after a two-game absence, throwing for 224 yards and two scores, while rushing for an additional 74 yards.

Chicago has slowly started taking the training wheels off Fields, giving him more opportunities to make plays, something he excelled at in college.

The rookie will be without Allen Robinson due to COVID, but he’s largely been a disappointment all season. Darnell Mooney has emerged as the Bears top target, and he catches a favorable matchup versus Minnesota’s 16th-ranked coverage unit.

Running back David Montgomery is also in a plus spot, facing a Vikings rush defence that has coughed up the 12th most production to enemy RB’s.

After starting 3-1, Chicago has dropped seven of eight, but always seems to give Minnesota trouble.

 

Best bets

The Bears are 5-1 straight up against the Vikings in their past six meetings and have covered five of their past six games versus Minnesota at Soldier Field.

Home underdogs on Monday Night Football are 5-0 against the spread this season, while the Vikings are prone to playing down to their competition.

Don’t forget this is a team that lost outright to Detroit in Week 13 and hit a game-winning field goal as time expired to barely beat the Lions in Week 5.

The Vikings are 2-9 against the spread in their last 11 outings as a favourite and have played eight games already this season decided by six  points or less.

Finally, we can’t help but mention Cousins’ record on Monday Night Football. He’s 1-9 all-time under the prime-time lights, giving us one more reason to back the Bears.

Pick: Chicago Bears +6