It’s hard to predict what will happen with the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings in Week 18.
Minnesota is still alive for the No. 2 seed, but their hopes rest on the shoulders of a bad Arizona Cardinals team to beat the 49ers. Regardless, the Bears could look to play spoiler and completely negate the Vikings opportunity at the No. 2 seed.
Although, Chicago also has an opportunity to lock down the No. 1 pick with a loss and a Houston Texans win. With Justin Fields sidelined and a slew of other injuries, the odds appear to be in the Bears’ favor.
Here are three keys for Chicago in this season finale:
1
Nathan Peterman vs. Vikings Secondary
We know who Nathan Peterman is, he isn’t setting the world on fire. The Bears need to give him underneath throws to get him in a little bit of a rhythm.. If we’ve seen anything this season from the Vikings defense, it’s that you can throw on them, and they’ll give you the underneath looks. Since Week 12, the Vikings defense is 22nd in dropback EPA, and 19th in dropback success rate. As long as he protects the football, Peterman should be able to put up respectable numbers.
2
Limit Kirk Cousins & Justin Jefferson
The Vikings still have something to play for in Week 18. If they win and the 49ers lose, they will be the No. 2 seed in the NFC. However, with the 49ers playing a Cardinals team with either David Blough or Colt McCoy at the helm, their odds seem slim of overtaking San Francisco. For that reason, we may not see the Vikings keep Cousins and/or Jefferson in all game. Regardless, focusing on the best receiver in football is a must. The Bears don’t have one singular guy who can limit Justin Jefferson the way Green Bay did a week ago. It will have to be a lot of double coverage looks and forcing the Vikings to look elsewhere if they want to have a chance at winning that battle.
3
Produce any sort of offense
Getting Peterman comfortable throwing the ball is a must, but the Bears need to find any sort of offense to close out the season. The Bears offense is 30th in EPA per play since Week 12 and 26th in success rate. The lack of weapons is suffocating for the offense.. The Bears need to get back to what they’ve done best- run the ball. They had such great balance in the middle of the season. They were the league’s best ground attack, and were only asking Justin Fields to throw 21-25 times per game. While they weren’t winning, they very well could have won several of those games (the games vs Miami and Detroit at home, especially). If Chicago can find that run-game success, watch out.
