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Vikings at Bears: Keys to game, how to watch, who has the edge

chris tomasson, pioneer press
·2 min read
3

VIKINGS (12-4) at BEARS (3-13)

Kickoff: Noon Sunday

Where: Soldier Field, Chicago.

TV: KMSP-Channel 9; Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma and Shannon Spake

Radio: KFXN-FM 100.3; Paul Allen, Pete Bercich, Ben Leber

Referee: Brad Allen

Series: Vikings lead 63-57-2

Line: Vikings by 7 1/2

The Vikings are currently the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoff race but have an outside shot at overtaking San Francisco (12-4) for No. 2. For that to happen, the Vikings must win or tie and have the 49ers lose to Arizona at home. Or a Minnesota tie and a San Francisco loss would do it. But the 49ers are a 14-point favorite over the Cardinals.

In the teams’ first meeting, the Bears led the Vikings 22-21 in the fourth quarter on Oct. 9 at U.S. Bank Stadium before Minnesota came back to win 29-22. But that Chicago team had Justin Fields at quarterback. He won’t play Sunday due to a hip injury and will be replaced by Nathan Peterson, who hasn’t started a game since 2018 and has a career record of 1-3 as a starter.

The Vikings have won the past two games at Soldier Field, but before that lost 10 of 12. They won 17-9 in Chicago in December 2021 in a ugly game on Monday night.

Minnesota will be without right tackle Brian O’Neill (Achilles), who is out for the season, and center Garrett Bradbury (back), so quarterback Kirk Cousins could face plenty of pressure. Cousins threw three interceptions in last Sunday’s 41-17 loss at Green Bay. He will look to bounce back and get the ball to Justin Jefferson, who had just one catch for 15 yards against the Packers.

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