4th and Goal(s): Bears Battling Vikings After Already Going Overtime With COVID
Players, coaches alike affected by new outbreak as division rival comes to town desperate to stay alive in NFC playoff hunt
Attrition in football is a powerful entity, in professional football its pretty much the alarm clock with which every team sets its yearly expiration date.
Very rarely do NFL teams make it all the way to the finish relatively healthy, whether their seasons end in the postseason or not, and right now the Chicago Bears look to be in all sorts of bad shape heading into their Monday Night Football clash with the Minnesota Vikings.
Right now, a huge difference between the two teams how many injured and otherwise unavailable players each team has to carry, due either to injury or exposure to COVID. Not only are these ailments effecting the individual players, but many coaches as well.
Late last week it was announced by the Bears that all three of their coordinators tested positive for COVID and may not be available Monday. Early Monday morning the Bears announced that defensive coordinator Sean Desai will be available to coach, its unlikely either Bill Lazor (offense) or Chris Tabor (special teams) will be available for this game.
If this contest wasn’t already an uphill climb for a Bears team who’s already pretty down in the dumps, now you throw in a massive boulder weighing them down and stretching the team likely beyond recognition regarding its depth and talent.
Regardless, this game looks to be going on as part of a re-shuffled prime-time lineup that provides an extra match for Monday and two for Tuesday, as the league is trying as best it can to maintain the integrity of its schedule. As far as competitive integrity goes…that may be a more deeper issue for Chicago. Let’s take a look at what the Bears need to do to get a victory on Monday.
14 and counting - 14 Bears players were officially on the Bears COVID/reserve list entering Monday. The entire starting secondary will be out with COVID including cornerback Jaylon Johnson, safety Eddie Jackson, safety Tashaun Gipson Sr, cornerback Artie Burns and nickel back Duke Shelley. Multiple other big names or out like wide receiver Allen Robinson and tackle Larry Borom.
(Nine inactive and practice squad players were also been added to the official roster on Monday)
These are just the COVID folks though, as of now linebacker Roquan Smith and defensive tackle Akiem Hicks are questionable and tackle Jason Peters is out. If things weren’t tough already on head coach Matt Nagy they sure are now. Finding a replacement for all these guys will be extremely tough, and the coaching staff is going to have to find ways to make these replacements put into successful positions.
Change of staff - The Bears will likely be starting this game with two subsitute coordinators — John DeFilippo on offense, and on special teams, Brian Ginn. Some positive news as Sean Desai was cleared to take part in the game. There is still a chance that the established offensive and special teams coordinators could clear protocol to make this game. If they are unable to go then it will be extremely important for the replacements to steady the course and put all these various backups in positions to succeed.
Certainly with Tabor the loss is big because of how well the special teams unit has been this year, particularly in the last game against Green Bay. Perhaps on offense with DeFilippo the Bears can maybe find a different rhythm after its looked pretty clear this season that Lazor still hasn’t cracked the scoring code.
Did you see the Packers game? - On Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens took on the Packers without their star quarterback Lamar Jackson. It was a predictable loss but the Ravens put together a game plan the Bears should have been implementing (or stealing) by now.
The plan was simple — hold onto the football by running the ball and utilize their big match-up tight end and quick receivers to get on the edge or attack the middle of the field. This combination of attack lead to the Ravens controlling time of possession and keeping the game close. For the Bears, they need to run the ball ad nauseam.
Another great option is trying to design ways to utilize quarterback Justin Fields’ legs to keep the Vikings off balance. But overall, this Vikings defense has given up tons of yardage on the ground and through the air, to go along with all the Bears defense’s issues, this is a game the offense has to be a major contributor to any possible victory.
Scary Vikings offense - Perhaps the biggest hurdle for the Bears in this game — which is saying something — will be trying to contain the Vikings offense. Regarding the run, this team is very much the Vikings of old with running back Dalvin Cook set to play. These Vikings run the ball well and the Bears do a bad job stopping it which is massive hurdle one.
The next big hurdle is trying to contain a great passing game led by quarterback Kirk Cousins. Cousins has only thrown five total interceptions this year and has had a quarterback rating of 90 or better in every game except three. Of Cousins’ 10 games featuring a quarterback rating of 90 or better, eight of those have had a rating over 100.
There’s a chance wide receiver Adam Thielen may not play, which would help the Bears’ cause mightily, but Cousins still has plenty weapons to use for his attack. Can this battered and beaten down Bears defense slow the Vikings down enough to compete and possibly control the field tonight? That will be the ultimate question in deciding whether or not Bears fans will feel gifted early this last Monday night before Christmas.
Ryan Bukowiecki covers the Chicago Bears and professional football for WARR