The Chicago Bears enter Week 11 with real momentum, fundamental belief, and a real chance to seize control of the NFC North.
At 6–3 and playing their most complete football in years, they now walk into a divisional battle with Minnesota (4-5) that carries both weight and urgency.
In these inter-division ballgames now in mid-November, your best has to be your best, and the games tilt on one or two defining players. With how Chicago’s defense has surged recently, one name stands out as the potential difference-maker: Montez Sweat.
How Sweat can disrupt the Vikings' offense in Week 11
Acquired from Washington back in 2023, Sweat arrived in Chicago to be the anchor of a new-look pass rush. The Bears needed someone with length, burst, and the ability to win consistently on the edge, and in 2025, Sweat is giving them that and more.
After finishing last season with just six sacks, he’s already matched that total through nine appearances this year. But the more telling stat is the heater he’s on over the last month: five sacks since Week 7, 13 pressures over that stretch, and 18 total pressures over his last five games, according to PFF.
For Sweat, he's playing arguably his best football since entering the league.
Now, he gets a Vikings offense built around protecting its young quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, the 2024 first-round pick who essentially redshirted last season and is experiencing his first true NFL run in 2025.
Minnesota’s tackle duo of Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill is one of the most technically sound tandems in football, but they haven’t faced an end quite like Sweat in recent weeks -- one operating with confidence, explosiveness, and command of his rush plan.
At 6-foot-6, 262 pounds with 4.5 speed, Sweat presents McCarthy with a type of edge athlete not only that he can't outrun, but a player with Sweat's athletic profile that McCarthy has simply never seen before.
And for a young passer who thrives when he can sit comfortably in rhythm, distribute quickly, and run Minnesota’s rhythm-based offense, that disruption becomes everything. And when he's not able to get home, Sweat’s ability to get long arms into throwing lanes, close down escape windows, flatten around the edge, and force McCarthy to reset his platform will dictate how much Minnesota can lean on its passing game.
Because if McCarthy is forced off his spot, he can’t operate seven-on-seven. He can’t comfortably attack with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor, or T.J. Hockenson up the seam. Even outlet options like Aaron Jones in the flats become less effective when the quarterback is hurried, hit, or forced to move out of the pocket.
Last week against the Giants, Sweat amassed four pressures, two sacks, and two hurries -- the type of all-around disruption Chicago envisioned when they traded for him.
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Should he carry that form into Minnesota, he can singlehandedly shrink the Vikings’ playbook, distort their timing, and tilt a divisional matchup the Bears have to have.