Death, taxes. . .and the Minnesota Vikings hosting the Chicago Bears in Week 17 of the NFL regular season.
Yes, for the third consecutive season and the fourth time in five years, the Vikings and the Bears will get together for the regular season finale in the friendly confines of U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings are 3-0 against the Bears in those regular season finales, and hopefully that trend will hold true on Sunday, because the stakes are pretty darn high.
The Vikings can secure their first consecutive back-to-back playoff seasons since 2008 and 2009 with a victory over the Bears in this one. The Bears have already wrapped up the NFC North, and there’s only one playoff spot remaining in the conference. That spot will go to either the Vikings or the Philadelphia Eagles. If the Vikings win, they are in the postseason, no matter what Philadelphia does. If the Vikings should lose, they need to hope that the Eagles fall to the Washington Redskins in their season finale to make the playoffs. A Vikings loss and an Eagles win means that the Vikings’ season is over. . .so let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
Not to be outdone, the Bears are potentially playing for a first-round bye in this one. A victory over the Vikings coupled by a loss by the Los Angeles Rams to the San Francisco 49ers would give the Bears the #2 seed in the NFC and a week off in the postseason.
Naturally, all of the games that Vikings and Bears fans care about will be kicking off at 3:25 PM Central time, so there will be plenty of “scoreboard watching” for the Vikings’ faithful to do. We’ll have all of our coverage of this game right here for you to keep track of.