Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears Betting Preview
Opening Line: Vikings -1 / Bears +1 O/U 40.5
Time: 1 PM EST Sunday November 14, 2010 on FOX
The Vikings (3-5) may have saved their season with last week’s comeback win and they can climb back in the NFC North race with a win against the Bears (5-3) at Soldier Field this Sunday. The OT win by Minnesota not only likely saved the Vikings hopes of making the playoffs, but it almost may have saved head coach Brad Childress from losing his job. The Bears trail the 6-3 Green Bay Packers in the NFC North, but they have not been playing well, as they barely beat the winless Buffalo Bills last week and they lost their previous 2 games.
Last week the Vikings came back from 14 down in the 4th quarter to beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-24 in OT and the Bears needed a 4th quarter INT to beat the Buffalo Bills 22-19.
The Vikings (3-5) may have saved their season with last week’s comeback win and they can climb back in the NFC North race with a win against the Bears (5-3) at Soldier Field this Sunday. The OT win by Minnesota not only likely saved the Vikings hopes of making the playoffs, but it almost may have saved head coach Brad Childress from losing his job. The Bears trail the 6-3 Green Bay Packers in the NFC North, but they have not been playing well, as they barely beat the winless Buffalo Bills last week and they lost their previous 2 games.
Last week the Vikings came back from 14 down in the 4th quarter to beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-24 in OT and the Bears needed a 4th quarter INT to beat the Buffalo Bills 22-19.
Oddsmakers have the Vikings as slight 1-point betting favorites in this game and this season Minnesota is 2-6 ATS and Chicago is 3-4-1 ATS. The betting trends points to the Bears covering the spread, as the home team is 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings between these 2 teams and the Vikings have only covered the spread one time in their last 7 games in Chicago.
Brett Favre passed for a career high 446 yards with 2 TD and 2 INT in the win over Arizona and his main target of WR Percy Harvin had 9 catches for a career-high 126 yards. The Vikings may also get last season leading WR back in Sidney Rice, but he is still questionable for the game. Still, the Bears have to be worried since their pass defense only ranks 19th in the league and they gave up 294 passing yards last week. The Bears and their 3rd ranked run defense will get a major test this Sunday facing RB Adrian Peterson, who ranks 2nd in the league in rushing yards. The Bears’ D has to step up in this game, as their offense is one of the lowest scoring ones in the league only averaging 18.5 ppg.
I just said the Bears’ offense is struggling and the stats point to that fact, since they do not rank in the top 20 in the league in passing or rushing yards per game. They were out-gained by 57 yards in the win over Buffalo, but their D bailed them out and forced 3 turnovers. QB Jay Cutler only passed for 188 yards, but he did have 2 TD and RB Matt Forte only had 49 yards averaging 3.5 yards per rush. The Vikings have been playing good D and the Bears’ offensive line has to protect Cutler in this game, but they have given up the most sacks in the league this season (32).
Minnesota is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games, 0-4 ATS in their last 4 road games, and has an Over record of 5-0 in their last 5 games.
Chicago is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog, 2-7 ATS in their last 9 home games, and has an Under record of 6-2 in their last 8 home games.
Our Selection : Take the Vikings -1 at 5Dimes.com.