Adam you can merge this into your game thread tomorrow or whatever you see fit. I just wanted to get this posted while I had it The video should play the rest of the post will be locked down. It shows how the Vikings work their inside pressure against the center

Vikings Double Mug Cross-Dog Sim Pressure Mechanics

Manipulating Spread Pass Protections with Center Picks and Cage Rushes

12 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Adam you can merge this into your game thread tomorrow or whatever you see fit. I just wanted to get this posted while I had it The video should play the rest of the post will be locked down. It shows how the Vikings work their inside pressure against the center

Vikings Double Mug Cross-Dog Sim Pressure Mechanics

Manipulating Spread Pass Protections with Center Picks and Cage Rushes

I can see Caleb dumping a pass to a TE over the line to the vacated space in the middle. I cant wait.

All hands on deck, every player off the injury designations, full practice, and suiting up for Sunday.

I wonder if this means Woods will be at Safety, putting Lewis back to Nickel?

That would free up Malik M. to play outside opposite Johnson, putting Stevenson to rotate when needed.

2 hours ago, Pixote said:

All hands on deck, every player off the injury designations, full practice, and suiting up for Sunday.

I wonder if this means Woods will be at Safety, putting Lewis back to Nickel?

That would free up Malik M. to play outside opposite Johnson, putting Stevenson to rotate when needed.

I’d feel better with Muhammed outside instead of Tyrique.

1 hour ago, AZ54 said:

I’d feel better with Muhammed outside instead of Tyrique.

After last weekend, I barely trust Stevenson. Kid has the physical talent but is missing parts to be a good starter. Thought he would adapt.

5 hours ago, Pixote said:

All hands on deck, every player off the injury designations, full practice, and suiting up for Sunday.

I wonder if this means Woods will be at Safety, putting Lewis back to Nickel?

That would free up Malik M. to play outside opposite Johnson, putting Stevenson to rotate when needed.

exactly, and maybe this week or next week Trapilo will get some possessions too.

5 hours ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

After last weekend, I barely trust Stevenson. Kid has the physical talent but is missing parts to be a good starter. Thought he would adapt.

It's strange with Johnson and Stevenson. Ben talked about both of them having great training camps and under performing against the Panthers. He and they are expecting more production this Sunday.

3 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

exactly, and maybe this week or next week Trapilo will get some possessions too.

It's possible; they noted in the article about our Week 2 injury report that Trapilo had been removed completely from the listing. That has to be a good sign of progress. I just pray he doesn't regress when brought back online after such a long absence.

2 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

It's strange with Johnson and Stevenson. Ben talked about both of them having great training camps and under performing against the Panthers. He and they are expecting more production this Sunday.

Hope the coach is right, hate seeing high talent like this struggle. There is being in great shape and being in great game shape, so hope both JJ and TS find that great game shape soon. You have to fail to succeed, so hope they recognize where they failed

The MIN defense only allowed more than 30 pts once last season. For how bad the Bears defense looked against CAR, the Bears will need to score 30 to win. Somehow MIN also scored 39 last week, so this game features the top 2 scoring teams in the NFL thru Week 1.

The Bears have a clean injury report while the Vikings will be without Mason at RB, obviously Murray at QB, O'Neill, OT is questionable, and Jennings, WR is out.

Ironically enough, Wentz, who will get the start, is 4-0 against the Bears in his career, 5 TD, 0 INT, but only averaged 188 yards per game. Some funny numbers for him. His last game against CHI was when he was in WAS beating the Bears in 2022 12-7 in CHI against Fields. Wentz only had 99 yards passing while Fields had 190.

This is crazy, these were the QBs that Wentz faced and their Passing Yds, TD, INTs, and Sacks:

Fields 190 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, 5 Sacks
Trubisky 125 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT, 3 Sacks
Trubisky 147 yds, 0 TD, 2 INT, 2 Sacks
Cutler 157 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT, 3 Sacks (injured)

MIN only allowed 3 passers to throw for more than 250 yards against them last year. Hurts was the only one to hit 300. They did allow 200 yards rushing twice, and they were 0-4 when they allowed over 140 yards rushing. So that seems to be the key against them. Hit the right hole against the blitz and there will be no one until the 3rd level.

One other note, CHI was tied with the most penalties with 12, and MIN was 31st with only 3. That is a massive disparity, and even if that corrects slightly to the mean, that should project to be about 9 for CHI and 5 for MIN. I am hoping that is closer to even.

With all of that said, I am trusting the most elite unit out of the Bears and Vikings Offense and Defense. The Vikings' defense allowed 22, which pales in comparison to an offense scoring 59. So I am taking the Bears at home 27-23 in one of those close ones that will come down to the wire. I feel like Loveland will have his breakout game with the MIN blitz.

2 hours ago, adam said:

I feel like Loveland will have his breakout game with the MIN blitz.

this sounds right!

3 hours ago, adam said:

The MIN defense only allowed more than 30 pts once last season. For how bad the Bears defense looked against CAR, the Bears will need to score 30 to win. Somehow MIN also scored 39 last week, so this game features the top 2 scoring teams in the NFL thru Week 1.

The Bears have a clean injury report while the Vikings will be without Mason at RB, obviously Murray at QB, O'Neill, OT is questionable, and Jennings, WR is out.

Ironically enough, Wentz, who will get the start, is 4-0 against the Bears in his career, 5 TD, 0 INT, but only averaged 188 yards per game. Some funny numbers for him. His last game against CHI was when he was in WAS beating the Bears in 2022 12-7 in CHI against Fields. Wentz only had 99 yards passing while Fields had 190.

This is crazy, these were the QBs that Wentz faced and their Passing Yds, TD, INTs, and Sacks:

Fields 190 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, 5 Sacks
Trubisky 125 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT, 3 Sacks
Trubisky 147 yds, 0 TD, 2 INT, 2 Sacks
Cutler 157 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT, 3 Sacks (injured)

MIN only allowed 3 passers to throw for more than 250 yards against them last year. Hurts was the only one to hit 300. They did allow 200 yards rushing twice, and they were 0-4 when they allowed over 140 yards rushing. So that seems to be the key against them. Hit the right hole against the blitz and there will be no one until the 3rd level.

One other note, CHI was tied with the most penalties with 12, and MIN was 31st with only 3. That is a massive disparity, and even if that corrects slightly to the mean, that should project to be about 9 for CHI and 5 for MIN. I am hoping that is closer to even.

With all of that said, I am trusting the most elite unit out of the Bears and Vikings Offense and Defense. The Vikings' defense allowed 22, which pales in comparison to an offense scoring 59. So I am taking the Bears at home 27-23 in one of those close ones that will come down to the wire. I feel like Loveland will have his breakout game with the MIN blitz.

I'll be very curious to see what they do on defense because right now I feel like Caleb and Ben have an answer for anything they want to try. If they stack the middle for both pressure and to stop the run, we can seal the edge well with any of our TEs and run off that. I listened to a couple interviews with Pete Bercich and his recommendation is just that: Stack the middle, put someone right on the nose, and then work the A gaps off Bradbury. Or pass off that with quick outlet passes on WR screens. Harrison Smith is back but he's on a snap count for age related reasons. Behind him it appears both safeties are bit suspect in their tackling and coverage abilities. Overall Bercich expressed a lot of concern about the number of weapons the Bears have, the running game and was complimentary of Swift and Monangai.

On a side note: Caleb has received a lot of criticism for a couple plays and Bercich echoes those same sentiments implying they can take advantage of them. The first play early in the game where Raymond came open late around the hash marks but Caleb had bailed the pocket and then threw the deep ball to Rome for that amazing catch. Bradbury was getting beat at that time and a DT had a straight shot at Caleb. This is exactly what Bercich is suggesting the Vikings exploit. FWIW I agree, Bradbury is our worst Olineman, even more of a problem than Jones at LT. While the mis-read is correct, the counterpoint is you still have to contain Caleb outside the pocket.

The other criticism so many have highlighted is where he missed Loveland on a crosser late in the game and threw the checkdown the Monangai. I simply don't care if Caleb checks down multiple times and we keep getting 20-25 yard gains. Except we all know that sooner or later he will hit Loveland on that over route for the 25-30 yard gain.