To cap off what has already been a wild Week 15 of NFL games, we've got a battle between old NFC North rivals as the Minnesota Vikings play host to the Chicago Bears on "Monday Night Football."
Minnesota has an opportunity to make things more interesting in the divisional race after the Lions lost to the Bills on Sunday, and can pull even with Detroit in the win column by emerging victorious from this game. The Lions would still be ahead thanks to the tiebreaker, but the Vikes could change all that down the stretch of the season -- including in what could potentially be a division title game in Week 18.
The Bears are looking more toward 2025, but they do have a chance to end Caleb Williams' rookie season with a bang -- and ruin some of their rivals' seasons along the way. They've lost seven games in a row, but play each of Minnesota, Detroit and Green Bay over the season's final four weeks. Therein lies opportunity.
Will the Vikings keep pace at the top of the conference, or will the Bears play spoiler? We'll find out soon enough. Before we break down the matchup, here's a look at how you can watch the game.
Vikings vs. Bears where to watch
Date: Monday, Dec. 16 | Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: U.S. Bank Stadium (Minneapolis)
Channel: ABC | Stream: fubo (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App
Betting odds: Vikings -7, O/U 44 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
When the Bears have the ball
Caleb Williams surprisingly had one of the best games of his rookie season, when these two teams met a few weeks ago. He completed 32 of 47 passes for 340 yards and 2 touchdowns, he was sacked only twice and he did not throw an interception. He's thrown five touchdowns against zero interceptions in the two games since then, but has largely struggled as a downfield passer during those games, and has taken a ton of sacks.
So, can he replicate the performance he had back in Week 12? That's the operative question in determining whether the Bears can compete in this game, because they are extraordinarily unlikely to find success on the ground. The Vikings have yielded just 3.9 yards per carry on the season, with just 1.27 before contact (eighth in the NFL) and 2.60 after contact (fourth), via Tru Media. The Vikings have been one of the best tackling teams in the NFL, while Chicago's offensive line has not given D'Andre Swift much room to run and he has not done much in the way of breaking tackles and creating yardage for himself.
The question, then, is whether Williams can out-duel Brian Flores and this Vikings secondary. Minnesota has been a bend-but-don't-break unit against the pass for much of this season, relying on sacks and turnovers to overcome the fact that the defensive backs can occasionally yield a bunch of underneath catches and even some splash plays. The Bears were able to keep the line moving despite heavy pressure a few weeks ago, but Williams has otherwise struggled with bodies in front of his face for most of the year.
And you know Flores is going to have a ton of new exotic looks for the rookie after he so convincingly passed the previous test this Vikings defense posed. How he, the offensive line and the recently twice-promoted Thomas Brown deal with all that are the single-biggest key to this game.
When the Vikings have the ball
A few weeks back, the Bears went all out to shut down Justin Jefferson. That effort worked out quite well, with Jefferson reeling in just 2 of his 5 targets for 28 yards -- just the fifth time he's been held south of 30 in a game where he played at least 75% of Minnesota's snaps. (And he played 99% in that game.)
The issue was that everyone else on Minnesota's offense went off: Jordan Addison caught 8 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown. T.J. Hockenson had 7 grabs for 114 yards. Aaron Jones ran for 106 yards and a touchdown on his 22 carries, and added 23 yards on his three catches. As a result, Minnesota racked up 452 yards of offense while averaging 7.0 yards per play. If the Vikes hadn't gone just 3 of 7 in the red zone, the game wouldn't have been all that close.
So, will the Bears employ the same strategy again? It's especially worth asking because former head coach Matt Eberflus is no longer in the building, with defensive coordinator Eric Washington now calling the plays. Chicago has one of the NFL's best corners in Jaylon Johnson if it wants to shadow Jefferson, or it can try to use Johnson on Addison and play cloud coverages to Jefferson's side of the field and hope to take him away with multiple bodies. It'll be interesting to see which tactic Washington takes, or if he tries to mix things up instead.
Getting pressure on Sam Darnold and forcing him into mistakes mistakes is key, but nobody has been able to do that of late. He has a perfect 11-to-0 touchdown to interception ratio since his disastrous three-pick game against the Jaguars in Week 10, and he looked especially electric in tearing up the Falcons last week. He's taken more sacks in recent weeks, but it surprisingly hasn't affected his passing performance as much as it would have in previous seasons.
Chicago has also been eminently beatable on the ground, giving up yards at 4.8 per carry. Jones has demolished Chicago throughout his career and that carried over to the previous game.He's looked fresh, for the most part, since the two-game span where he had his snaps somewhat limited while dealing with an injury.
Prediction: Vikings 24, Bears 13
It took overtime for Minnesota to pull out a victory in the first of these two matchups, but that shouldn't be the case here. The Vikes have advantages on both sides of the ball, and they're playing this game on the fast track in their home stadium.
Bonus: R.J. White, who is on a 67-39-5 roll on Vikings games, has released his best bets for the Week 15 ''Monday Night Football'' matchup. White is leaning the Under. To see which side he's backing, head on over to SportsLine.
