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Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears: 5 keys to victory

By Adam Carlson

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On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings will take on the Chicago Bears.  They have struggled to win at Soldier Field in the past and need to change up their cold streak in order to stay with their winning ways.  However, this game will not be a pushover by any means, as the Bears have a lot of talent on their roster and an explosive offense.

The Minnesota Vikings will have to play a solid game of football to walk out with a victory.  In particular, I’ve outlined my five most important things for the team to focus on against Chicago.  Here they are in no particular order:

  1. Contain Matt Forte.  He’s scary when he can get the ball in space.  Luckily, the Minnesota Vikings have been solid tacklers this season and haven’t given up many big runs or a large amount of yards after the catch.  However, a dual-threat player like Forte has been known to tear up the Vikings in the past.  Stopping him should be the priority.
  2. Avoid turnovers.  Teddy Bridgewater will have to play smart football, as the Bears are likely to employ the same strategy as the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions by stopping the run and forcing Minnesota to attack through the air.  The Bears secondary has been struggling, but Bridgewater will still need to make good decisions and not force throws.
  3. Get lots of pressure on Jay Cutler.  The Minnesota Vikings found success by sending blitzes at Matt Stafford last week, so we should expect some of the same against the Bears, whose offensive line is also a big problem.  If they can frustrate Cutler, they should be able to capitalize on bad decisions and throws to hopefully get some turnovers.
  4. Establish the run with Adrian Peterson.  Recently, teams have cued in on the run, bottling up and hitting Peterson either before or at the line of scrimmage.  This has resulted in him being largely ineffective until he is able to break a long run.  If Peterson can average even a small number of yards per carry, it could go a long way in helping the offense pick up first downs.
  5. Limit penalties.  It was announced that John Hussey’s crew will be officiating the game, and that’s bad news.  This group has the dubious honor of throwing the most penalty flags in the NFL and Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes has struggled with holding and pass interference all season.  It could make for a long day.

Those are my five keys to success for the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.  What do you think?  Do you disagree with any of my keys?  Do you think I forgot a major thing that the Vikings must do to win?  Discuss it in the comments below.

Next: Minnesota Vikings 2015 Game By Game Previews

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