Chicago Bears vs Vikings: Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace’s jobs on the line
Can Eddie Jackson finally get an interception this season?
Five weeks ago, the Bears enabled Kirk Cousins to finally win his first Monday night game. With that in mind, I believe the least Cousins could do with an assist from a strong Bears pass rush is enable Eddie Jackson to get his first interception of this season. However, for that to happen Jackson has to put aside some business decisions and ball out in this all-important game.
If the Bears have a healthy lead at the start of the half, the “smartest man in the room,” Matt Nagy can’t sit on a lead at the start of the third quarter as he did against the Texans. In fact, it would be really special if his offense scored a touchdown in the third quarter for the first time this season.
As this is their most important game of the season, it would be quite special to do this. I am pretty sure it is possible to continue to commit to the run game and also score a touchdown. The Vikings are way too desperate a team and too talented on offense for the Chicago Bears to get away with dinking and dunking their way to a lot of three and outs early in the second half.
Finally, the Chicago Bears’ real ace in the hole for this game is their placekicker Cairo Santos. He has made 21 out of 23 field-goal attempts this season. These include three over 50 yards. Then there is the Vikings placekicker Dan Bailey. He may have lost his place on Mike Zimmer’s Christmas card list after missing four out of five field-goal attempts in a loss to the Bucs last week.
Bears must extend this player now. dark. Next
Game Prediction:
In the last four games, the Vikings have given up an average of 27 points per game. With Trubisky starting the last three games, the Bears have averaged 30 points per game on offense. So this all adds up in my humble opinion to a Bears 27-20 victory that keeps the Bears in the playoff hunt.