On the final Monday Night Football game of the 2009 season, fans will get the chance to see one of the best rivalries in the NFL when the Minnesota Vikings take on the Chicago Bears.
The Vikings still have a chance to claim home field advantage in the NFC playoffs thanks to the New Orleans Saints losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Meanwhile, the Bears would like nothing better than to send the Vikings to their second straight loss. Who will come out on top in this NFC North contest?
The Vikings need to prove their loss last week to the Carolina Panthers was an aberration and show why many NFL experts feel they can make a deep run in the playoffs. For starters, they will need to reduce their opponents third down conversions.
Before last week, the Vikings defense had allowed their opponents to convert only 34% of their third down attempts. In the game against the Panthers last week, Carolina converted 8 of 17 of their third down attempts, helping the Panthers win the time of possession. The Bears have had success converting third downs this year and are currently fifth best in the NFL with a 42% conversion rate.
The key to a Bears victory will be if they can pressure Brett Favre into making mistakes and disrupting the Vikings passing game, something they did not do during their first meeting of the season. Favre scorched the Bears defense by completing 66.7% of his passes for 392 yards and three touchdowns.
Favre has appeared human again since this dominant performance, throwing for 691 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions in the Vikings last three games. During this stretch, Favre was sacked nine times and hit countless other times by opposing defenses.
The Bears only managed to sack Favre once during the teams first meeting and are now without defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, who leads the team with 6.5 sacks. Players like Alex Brown and Tommie Harris will need to step up if the Bears are going to win this week.
The biggest variable in this game is going to be the weather. With the chance of snow, the conditions could force both teams to run the ball more than normal. This has to be a big concern for Adrian Peterson and Matt Forte who have coughed up the ball a total of eight times this season.
The Bears have owned the Vikings at home since 2001, where they are 7-1. While Favre is 13-3 in front of the Chicago faithful, he has lost two of the last three times he has played at Soldier Field.
All eyes will be on Favre and head coach Brad Childress, especially if this game begins to get out of hand. If Favre is smart, he will listen to the coach this time. When the final whistle is heard, the Vikings will have completed a dominate performance against an uninspired Bears defense.
