Bears vs. Vikings Point Spread: MNF Week 12 Odds, Prediction
The Vikes are eyeing a season sweep and are priced as 3.5-point favourites on the NFL odds.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
This writer feels confident in saying this will be the final prime-time game in the Chicago Bears coaching career of Matt Eberflus – the team doesn’t have another night game scheduled and probably won’t get one due to a well below .500 record. There have been rumours for weeks that Eberflus wasn’t going to see a third season with the Bears not improving much in Year 2, and we got some pretty substantial reporting recently that he’s a goner barring a late-season surge. Another hot rumour? Former Bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh might be interested in leaving Michigan if Chicago gets the No. 1 overall pick – via Carolina – in the 2024 draft and takes USC quarterback Caleb Williams. That would entail trading current QB Justin Fields, but that’s a story for another day.
Minnesota won 19-13 in Chicago in Week 6 to start a bit of a resurgence – had the Vikes lost that to fall to 1-5, the season was over. Hard to take too much from that game because the starting quarterbacks were Kirk Cousins and Tyson Bagent and neither will see the field Monday. Cousins is out for the season, while the undrafted rookie Bagent is back in a No. 2 role behind Justin Fields, so he might have to play if Fields is injured. Neither team had even 300 yards offence and they combined to go 8-for-27 on third down.
Including playoffs, the Vikings lead the all-time series 66-57-2.
Chicago Bears
Chicago got starting quarterback Justin Fields back on Sunday in Detroit for the first time since Week 6 due to a thumb injury, and the offence looked much better but late mistakes, a hallmark of Matt Eberflus’ coaching tenure, saw the Bears blow a 26-14 late fourth-quarter lead in a 31-26 loss. It was the first loss by any team this season when leading by at least 10 points in the final four minutes. Teams were 83-0 in those situations entering Sunday. Although if we are being honest, that was an ideal game for a true Bears fans: Fields plays well in his fifth career 100-yard rushing yard game (third-most all-time for a quarterback), but the team still losses as that helps for draft reasons in 2024 and pushes Eberflus that much closer to the door. Fields was the biggest running threat he had been all season with 18 carries for 104 yards. He didn’t turn the ball over at all, which has been a problem. Receiver DJ Moore was back in Pro Bowl form with his starting QB back as Moore caught seven passes for 96 yards and a TD.
Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota’s NFL-high five-game winning streak was snapped in a late 21-20 loss in Denver on Sunday. The go-ahead touchdown came without about a minute left, and the Vikings never got in position for a potential winning field goal, although Josh Dobbs played really well again for the most part in throwing and rushing for a touchdown. He became the first quarterback in NFL history to have both a touchdown throw and a touchdown run in his first three games with a team. The Vikings rushed for 175 yards against a good defence. Minnesota outgained Denver by nearly 100 yards and held the Broncos to five field goals, four of which were 37-yard attempts or shorter. But the Vikes had their first three-turnover game since September. Superstar WR Justin Jefferson was eligible to be activated off injured reserve but was not. Probably 50-50 for this week as well. Both he and Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell have said Jefferson would not return until he is 100 per cent. Seems more likely the Vikings will sit him one more game ahead of their very late bye.
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