4 Bold Predictions: Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears – Week 11

Bailey’s leg comes up big

Divisional matchups are normally pretty close, which means that every opportunity to score points needs to be taken advantage of. Given that both the Vikings and the Bears are led by talented defenses, Sunday night’s game is not expected to turn into a shootout.

Due to this likelihood, both teams will probably be turning to their kickers more often than not as a source of points on Sunday night. And if this actually does end up being the case, Minnesota has the advantage.

Minnesota Vikings

In the Vikings’ corner is Dan Bailey, an eight-year veteran who has made 12 of his 15 field goal attempts this season, including all eight of his tries on the road.

As for Chicago, 26-year-old kicker Cody Parkey is coming off a performance last week that saw him miss two field goal attempts and two extra point attempts (all four off the crossbar). It’s never really a good sign when a guy misses four kicks in a single game.

So if Minnesota has to turn to Bailey for some points on Sunday (which they probably will), they should actually have confidence in their kicking game for a change.

Three made field goals, including one in crunch time, doesn’t seem like too crazy of an expectation to have for the Vikings kicker this week.

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