The Minnesota Vikings’ defense has rebounded somewhat since allowing a 419-yard effort against the Los Angeles Chargers. Over the past two weeks, the Vikings held the Detroit Lions to 305 yards, the second-fewest allowed by Minnesota this year, and the Ravens managed 321 yards.
This weekend, the Vikings play the Chicago Bears, who have seemed to find their stride over the past five games. They have accumulated at least 381 yards of offense in all five games, including four games of at least 145 rushing yards.
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Minnesota held the Bears to 317 yards in their Week 1 matchup, Chicago’s first game under Ben Johnson. Now, they have nine games under their belt. If the Vikings want to have a chance to win, they will need to slow down the Bears’ offense so that they don’t have to get into a shootout that J.J. McCarthy may not be equipped for at this point in his career.
Stop the run game
The Vikings will need to slow down a Bears rushing attack that has averaged 183.4 yards per game over the past five games. Minnesota, meanwhile, ranks 20th in EPA allowed per rush and has been as inconsistent as any facet on the team.
Through nine games, the Vikings have allowed fewer than 100 yards three times. Two of those games were against the Eagles and Lions, a couple of the best running teams in the league. Will the Vikings attack the Bears’ ground game the same way?
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Pressure Caleb Williams
Brian Flores has dialed up the blitz against Caleb Williams in their previous three meetings. Williams has been blitzed 47 times in the three matchups, but he has only been sacked twice on those dropbacks, per Next Gen Stats.
The Vikings blitzed Williams on 37.2% of his dropbacks in Week 1. While they didn’t sack Williams on any of those blitzes, they held him to 6 of 13 passing for 36 yards and one touchdown, a 1-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze that cut the Vikings’ lead to 27-24 with 2:05 remaining in the game.
Force turnovers
If the Vikings force the Bears to turn the ball over, it would be an anomaly for each team. The Bears have turned the ball over six times this season, the fourth-fewest in the league. Meanwhile, the Vikings have forced nine turnovers, which ranks 20th in the league, but five of those takeaways came against Jake Browning and the Bengals.
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The Vikings currently have a minus-7 turnover differential. They are 34-5 in Kevin O’Connell’s time when they win the turnover battle. While part of that requires the offense to take care of the ball, the Vikings’ defense hasn’t been as apt to take the ball away as they were last year, when they were tied for the league lead in takeaways.
This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: Keys for the Vikings’ defense against the Bears’ offense in Week 11
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