Written By Chris Schad
The Minnesota Vikings will return from their bye week on Sunday when they travel to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears. The first half of the season was not kind, as they lost their All-Pro running back and their emerging tight end while their starting quarterback suffered a broken foot and their offensive coordinator/mastermind hasn’t impacted the offense like many thought.
Despite all of the things that haven’t gone in the Vikings favor, however, they stand at 4-5. While that’s a devastating three games back of the Detroit Lions in the NFC North, they’re two games back of the Seattle Seahawks for the final wild card spot.
As a bonus, the Vikings will get Kyle Rudolph back this Sunday and Adrian Peterson may make his controversial return the following week. While nobody is confusing the Vikings for a Super Bowl contender at the moment, it’s a fair question to ask whether these additions could lead to a playoff berth.
To accomplish that, the Vikings have to go through the NFC North.
Coming into Sunday’s game, the Vikings own an 0-2 divisional record thanks to being blown out by the Green Bay Packers (42-10) and Lions (17-3) in consecutive weeks. Those losses have made the Vikings a miserable 7-16-1 in the North since 2010 and 3-14-1 if their 4-2 divisional record from 2012 is taken away.
A lot of that has to do with the current “beaten with bricks ugly” state of the division, but it’s clear that the Vikings need to start making these games count beginning with Sunday’s tilt with the Bears.
It would be a perfect time to start a new trend as Chicago has been struggling in the past three weeks. With a combined score of 133-51 over their past three games, the Bears are reeling. Jay Cutler has devolved into a careless interception machine, their defense has been non-existent and even celebrations have gone horribly wrong.
Of course, Soldier Field has been the house of horrors for the Vikings. They’ve walked out of Chicago with a win just twice since the turn of the millennium — a 2-12 stretch that last saw them win in 2007 — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg with an inconsistent offensive line and a rookie quarterback.
Even if they survive Soldier Field, they have a date with football god Aaron Rodgers and his Packers, who have racked up eight wins in their last ten meetings with the Vikings.
It’s not ideal, but the Vikings have to flip the script at some point if they want to catch up with the rest of the NFC — especially with four of the final seven games coming against NFC North opponents. If they can survive that gauntlet, there are several winnable games remaining on the schedule such as home games against Carolina (3-6-1) and the New York Jets (2-8) along with a trip to Miami (6-4).
Maybe it’s an improbable run to overtake Seattle and San Francisco, but it was also improbable that they would be in this position back in Week 3. If the Vikings can win one out of the next two games, they’ll at least have a chance.