Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears: Inactive lists for both teams

We’re a little less than an hour and a half away from kickoff at Soldier Field, and the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings have both announced their inactive players for today’s contest. Let’s take a look at who will be sitting this one out for both sides.

Minnesota Vikings

• LB Brian Asamoah
• DL Ross Blacklock
• C Garrett Bradbury
• CB Cameron Dantzler
• DL James Lynch
• S Harrison Smith
• OLB Za’Darius Smith

We mentioned the Vikings declaring Smith out of this one yesterday with knee soreness despite not appearing on the injury report for this week. Hopefully it’s just a temporary thing and he’ll be ready to go for Wild Card Weekend. Za’Darius Smith is a “healthy” scratch as well, but he’s been dealing with a knee issue on and off all season. He also had a personal issue he was dealing with this week and traveled to Chicago separately from the rest of the team. Asamoah and Dantzler were both listed as questionable on the final injury report, so it’s no huge surprise they’re out of this one as well.

Chicago Bears

• DL Angelo Blackson
• RB Darrynton Evans
• QB Justin Fields
• DB Kyler Gordon
• CB Jaylon Jones
• LB Terrell Lewis
• LB Sterling Weatherford

The Bears declared Fields out early in the week, giving the Nathan Peterman Experience™ the start at quarterback in this one. If there was ever a sign that the Bears are angling for the #1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, that’s pretty much the one. Blackson, Gordon, and Lewis were all listed as questionable for the Bears on their final injury report.

Those are the inactive lists for the Vikings and the Bears as we prepare for kickoff in Chicago, folks. We’ll have our first Open Thread dropping at the top of the 11:00 AM Central time hour, and we hope to see all of you there.