Vikings eye 4th straight win and try to gain ground in NFC North when they meet struggling Bears

CHICAGO (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings understand the Chicago Bears are trying to keep a season that’s slipping away from falling completely out of reach.

Forgive them for being a little wary.

“This league’s all about response, and when you have teams who go through situations like that, tests of adversity, it’s always about response,” safety Josh Metellus said. “This could make or break them.”

The Vikings (8-2) hope to “break” the Bears (4-6) and maybe gain ground in the NFC North on Sunday in a matchup between teams headed in opposite directions.

Minnesota comes in with three straight wins after beating Tennessee 23-13 last week, when Sam Darnold threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score. The Vikings are trying to catch first-place Detroit (9-1) and remain ahead of Green Bay (7-3) in a tight division. The Lions visit Indianapolis on Sunday, while the Packers host San Francisco.

The last-place Bears are reeling with four straight losses after falling 20-19 to Green Bay at Soldier Field last week.

They were in position to end a 10-game losing streak to their rivals, only to let the lead slip away in the closing minutes. They came up short when Cairo Santos’ 46-yard field goal got blocked as time expired, their second loss on a last-second play in the past four weeks. The streak started when Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders beat them on a Hail Mary.

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On the plus side for Chicago, the offense had a better flow against Green Bay in Thomas Brown’s first game as coordinator after Shane Waldron was fired. No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams bounced back, throwing for 231 yards and running for a career-high 70 after struggling the previous three weeks.

“There are going to be rough times, rough patches over the long healthy career I hopefully have,” he said. “That’s not going to change my mindset, nor is it going to change it now.”

Grounded Vikings

The Vikings had just 33 rushes for 82 yards last week against the Titans, a season-worst average of 2.5 yards per attempt, and they’ve been particularly struggling in short-yardage situations this year.

According to Sportradar, the Vikings are the worst team in the NFL in rushing plays from the 1-yard line with six attempts for a net of 5 yards. Their only touchdown in those situations came last week on Darnold’s sneak.

Don’t think running back Aaron Jones hasn’t noticed.

“Dying to get back in there,” Jones said. “Talked to my son about it, talked to my mom, everybody. I talk about it to everybody, just trying to speak it into existence, putting in the work on the field to be able to get back in there. I miss it. Let’s just say that. I miss it. I miss the end zone, so I’ll be back soon.”

Tight losses

The loss to Green Bay was just the latest for Chicago in a long line of close ones during Eberflus’ 2 1/2 seasons. They are 2-4 in one-possession games this year and 5-17 in his tenure.

“The record’s not where it needs to be in one-score games, we know that,” Eberflus said. “Again, we’re just that far away, too. There’s a lot of good things that happen during the course of those games. We just got to learn how to finish better as a group.”

Staying home

Last week against the Titans, the Vikings stonewalled quarterback Will Levis on five designed runs for a net of 6 yards. He scrambled twice for an additional 12 yards in trying to evade the pressure that led to five sacks. The Vikings are plenty wary of the athleticism and elusiveness that Williams has brought to the Bears, a unique dimension that ought to test their top-ranked run defense.

“His mobility is not talked about enough. He can escape the pocket and make a lot of plays with his legs, so we’ve got to rush accordingly and try to keep him in the pocket,” Vikings outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel said. “You don’t want to rush scared, but you’ve definitely got to rush smart.”

Smooth operators

The Bears’ used more quick-hit passes and pre-snap motion against Green Bay, creating some mismatches and giving Williams more time to figure out the defense.

He also got the play call in his helmet quicker, giving him more time to figure out what the other team was doing.

It all added up to the Bears finishing with 391 yards and converting 56.3% on third downs. Getting 179 yards rushing didn’t hurt, though the Bears could be down a key weapon if running back D’Andre Swift misses the game because of a groin injury.

Youngest to 100

Bears linebacker Tremaine Edmunds is set to make some history. Assuming he plays Sunday, he will become the youngest NFL player to appear in 100 games — at 26 years, 206 days old.

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AP Pro Football Writer Dave Campbell in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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