The Chicago Bears will play their final primetime game of the 2023 season in Week 12 as they travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings on Monday Night Football.
After a 1-4 start to their season, and despite a season-ending injury to quarterback Kirk Cousins and superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson having missed their last six games, the Vikings stand at 6-5 with a chance to narrow Detroit's division lead to just 1.5 games. It'll be up to quarterback Josh Dobbs to get Minnesota past the Bears and into the playoff picture.
Meanwhile, the Bears are circling the drain. Again.
At just 3-8, the coaches and quarterback Justin Fields are making a last-ditch effort to keep their jobs in 2024. The Bears have lost their last twelve division games. They have not beaten Minnesota since 2020. Both of these streaks must end on Monday night.
This is the second meeting between the Bears and Vikings in 2023, their first being a 19-13 loss for Chicago at Soldier Field. Justin Fields was injured in the third quarter of that one after totaling just 58 yards on 6-of-10 passing, plus four sacks and an interception.
Tyson Bagent finished the game by providing a spark on offense, but an untimely interception ended it.
Fields is back for Round 2, and he'll look to stack good performances after a strong showing in Week 11 against Detroit.
The Bears seem to have a top-three pick in the 2024 NFL draft locked up, thanks to the 1-10 Carolina Panthers, and if Fields can't prove that he can consistently play his best football, GM Ryan Poles will have no qualms selecting his own quarterback at the top of the draft.
Fields needs the rest of the team to help him make it to 2024 as the Bears' starter. As much as football is a team sport, wins and losses fall on the quarterback's shoulders more than other players, fair or not. Fields needs wins on his resume, and he must play well along the way.
Can they get one against Minnesota? They might if they accomplish these three keys.
Beat the blitz
Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores loves to blitz. Like, really loves it. The Vikings run the most blitzes in the NFL by a significant margin, and the Bears did not exactly handle it well the last time these teams met.
Luke Getsy was caught off guard by the heavy blitzing, and Fields was far too slow in his process far too often.
On the game's first play, the Vikings sent a blitz and sacked Fields, who held the ball too long. On the play he was injured, Fields again was rushed out of the pocket after holding onto the ball longer than he should've.
The Bears can't let that happen again, not in U.S. Bank Stadium. It will be loud and raucous, making it hard to run their offense the way they want to. Getsy needs to deploy extra blockers to give Fields more time to throw, and Fields needs to make sure he's reading the defense and letting the ball rip on time.
Someone besides Justin Fields must effectively carry the ball
Justin Fields carried the ball 18 times for just over 100 yards in Week 11's loss to the Lions. That's a nice day for him, but there's just one problem: he's the quarterback. The Chicago Bears cannot let Fields carry the ball 18 times a game. That's a recipe for disaster, as we saw last season. It was working; the Bears' offense was chugging along, but Fields' body was clearly breaking down. He looked gassed by Week 13, and by Week 17, he was utterly broken.
So, while it was, in fact, a nice game running the ball for Fields, the Bears absolutely cannot ask him to do that again.
And they shouldn't have to. The run game should work with the running backs that the Bears have. D'Onta Foreman is out with an ankle and shin injury, but Khalil Herbert is no slouch, and rookie Roschon Johnson is quickly finding his NFL legs.
Herbert had just 2.9 yards per carry against Detroit, and aside from a long 14-yard run, Johnson had just 16 yards on five carries. That's not acceptable for a unit that has been fantastic all season. One of those two must have a breakout game that we know they're capable of, especially against a blitz-heavy Vikings defense.
Play all sixty minutes
The Bears seem to have a real problem playing a complete game.
In Week 4 against the Broncos, they played an excellent three quarters before a fourth-quarter collapse on both sides of the ball, leading to a loss.
Last week in Detroit, the Bears played an excellent game for 55 minutes, then came completely unglued in the closing minutes.
Players must execute better, but this is mostly a problem with coaching. Both head coach Matt Eberflus and Getsy are cowardly play-callers. When they have a slight lead late in games, they revert to prevent defense and an offensive script that reads 'run up the middle, run up the middle, throw it deep, punt.'
You don't win games in the NFL by playing scared. No lead is safe until the final whistle blows. If the Chicago Bears are lucky enough to have such a lead in the second half on Monday night, they cannot take their foot off the gas. Keep throwing the ball, sending pressure, and playing physically along the line of scrimmage.
What do the Bears have to lose at this point? Be aggressive.
Final Prediction: Chicago Bears lose 24-20
I picked the Bears to lose last week, and though they took the scenic route, they eventually ended up where I expected them to be.
Justin Fields playing well was a nice surprise, and I'd love to see him do it again. Will he? I highly doubt it. I expect a dud from him against a blitz-happy Vikings defense, complete with another turnover on what could be a game-winning drive in the final minutes.
The Bears will end up 2-2 in primetime games this season, and the losing streak against division rivals will continue as they head into their bye.
And here's the hot take for the week: Matt Eberflus will be fired tomorrow morning. It's a bye week, and Eberflus will be just 6-26 as head coach, giving Ryan Poles the perfect opportunity to make a change. I don't believe that he and Eberflus are a package deal, so there should be no real threat to his own job security if he parts ways with a losing head coach, and it gives him more time to compile a list of candidates to interview.