NFL
By Steve Rogers
The final regular season game is upon us. Week 18, and the Vikings are on the road. They’re headed to Chicago to face the Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday, January 8th. There’s a lot to prove and improve on after the beating the Vikings absorbed at the hand of the Green Bay Packers last week. Even more significant than the loss itself, the Vikings lost Starting right tackle Brian O’Neill for the year due to a calf injury, and they lost backup center Austin Schlottmann to a broken fibula. At the moment, the Vikings are the three seeds. Even with a victory, the Vikings will need help getting back to the two seeds.
The Chicago Bears
The Bears have been eliminated from the playoffs for a couple of weeks now. The Bears are 3-13 on the year. At this point, they’re just trying to get to the offseason as healthy as possible. This is why they have chosen to shut down star starting quarterback Justin Fields for the year before this game. Making sure he fully recovers from the hip injury he sustained last week. That means Fields will finish the season 64 yards shy of Lamar Jackson’s record of 1,206 rushing yards in a single year which he set in 2019. It also means that backup quarterback Nathan Peterman will get the start against the Vikings. This organization is focusing on this upcoming draft and off-season, where they will have lots of cap room to spend on free agents and rebuilding the talent on the roster.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings, on the other hand, have everything to play for. Currently, they’re sitting in the three seeds, having won their NFC North division. They need to get this win in Chicago and get some help to jump the 49ers back for the number two seeds. They need the 49ers to lose to the Arizona Cardinals later in the afternoon on Sunday. Given the unlikelihood of that outcome, the Vikings are likely locked into the three seeds.
With this being the final game of the regular season and at least one playoff game set to be played, the Vikings face the age-old question, how much playing time do the starters get? Head coach Kevin O’Connell said he has a ” Clear-cut plan.” He went on to say, “We’re going to go in with the expectation of our guys going in, trying to get off to a good start and play good football.” Well, it sounds like the Vikings will have their starters playing long enough for at least one scoring drive. They might even play the first quarter, but I’m sure they won’t play more than the first half. In other roster-related news, the Vikings are planning on activating tight end Irv Smith Jr. from the injured reserve. He brings needed depth to the tight end position as either the backup to T.J. Hockenson or, to really make things interesting, line both up as pass-catching options. The Vikings are also expecting to activate defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard. Another important piece of the defense is back healthy for the playoffs, yes, please. It always helps to get key role players back healthy in time for the playoffs.
My Prediction
The Vikings are favored by six points? On the road, even? If it’s going to be a one-score game, I’ll take the team that has gone 11-0 in one-score games. The Vikings might be the biggest question mark heading into the postseason. Not even the experts can figure out who or what this team’s identity is. They look at that as a negative, and I beg to differ. Not being able to nail down who or what your opponent is or does can be the recipe for a deep playoff run—breaking this down by the numbers. I think Kirk Cousins will get to around 80 yards and one or two touchdowns. Giving him around 4400 yards passing and 30 touchdowns. The guy most likely to catch those touchdowns is Justin Jefferson. Jefferson will likely get between 30 and 60 yards with one or two touchdowns. He will finish the year with over 1800 yards and nine or ten touchdowns. Running back Dalvin Cook will get close to 60 yards and maybe a touchdown. Cook will finish the year with around 1200 yards and eight or nine touchdowns. It doesn’t look or sound like Cousins will have a chance to break the game-winning drives record at he is currently tied with Mathew Staford (8). e final score will be 27-17.
