Vikings open as slight favorites over Bears in meaningless finale

The 2021 regular-season finale really doesn’t mean a hell of a lot for either the Minnesota Vikings or the Chicago Bears, as their postseason hopes are officially gone. However, if you’re into gambling you might have an interest, so here you go.

Our friends at the DraftKings Sportsbook have installed the Vikings as a 2.5-point favorite over the Bears for this Sunday’s game at U.S. Bank Stadium. The line had originally opened with the Vikings as a 4-point favorite, but has dipped a bit with the revelation that 60% of the Vikings’ offensive line hit the COVID list on Monday morning.

The over/under for this one is currently sitting at 44 points, despite the fact that when these two teams met on a Monday night a few weeks ago they managed to combine for just 26, six of which came on a meaningless touchdown on the final play of the game.

This will mark the sixth time in seven years that the Bears and the Vikings will meet in Minneapolis to finish the season, and the Vikings’ final home game in every year of U.S. Bank Stadium’s existence has featured the Bears as their opponent (the two teams met in Week 15 last year, but the Vikings’ final two games were on the road). The Bears also have a three-game winning streak going at U.S. Bank Stadium, so maybe the Vikings can pull their collective thumb out long enough to reverse that trend, at least.