Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears: Key Information and First Quarter Discussion

The time is finally upon us, ladies and gentlemen! After spending all day today watching a bunch of games that don’t matter, we finally get an opportunity to watch one that does.

Yes, it’s Sunday Night Football on NBC, and tonight we’ll get to see your Minnesota Vikings head into Soldier Field for a huge NFC North matchup against the Chicago Bears. Let’s give you everything you need to know for this evening’s contest.

Time: Sunday, 18 November, 7:20 PM Central time

Location: Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Television coverage: KARE-11 in the Twin Cities, NBC affiliates from coast to coast and border to border

Radio coverage: Vikings Radio Network, Sirius Channel 81, XM Channel 226

Line: Chicago -2.5, over/under 44

Prediction: Minnesota 23, Chicago 20

Three keys

1) Know where Khalil Mack is at all times - And seriously, I mean all times. . .on the field, on the sideline, in the locker room, in the restroom, in the parking lot, wherever. Mack has been a huge acquisition for the Bears, and can single-handedly change the momentum of this game with just one play. The Vikings are going to have to do everything they can to keep Mack away from Kirk Cousins and help the Minnesota offense.

2) Take care of the football - This is the obvious one for every game, but it’s a very simple formula for the Vikings: If they don’t turn the football over, they win ball games. When they turn the football over, they lose ball games. Again, this goes back to keeping Cousins upright, but receivers and running backs need to make sure they hang onto the ball as well.

3) It’s gotta be the shoes - This is just about the time of year that the playing surface at Soldier Field starts to turn into something more resembling a cow pasture. We’ve seen plenty of Vikings games on this field in the later part of the season where guys in purple are slipping and sliding around, leading to big plays for Chicago. They need to keep that to a minimum tonight, so hopefully the equipment folks have the situation under control.

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As we usually do, we will continue to roll out the Open Threads at the start of every quarter, so be sure to keep an eye out for those. With that said, let’s enjoy tonight’s game and hopefully we can all meet back here when it’s over to celebrate a victory and taking over first place in the NFC North.

SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!