Minnesota Vikings News and Links:  Time To Go Bear Hunting!

Should be a good game this week. I am hoping that the offense is even more efficient and that the defense is able to contain Caleb Williams when he scrambles. I think the team should be able to take care of business. What do you think?

Minnesota Vikings News and Links

Vikings at Bears Week 12 Game Preview

1. Facing No. 1 overall pick

Let’s play two truths and a lie.

Caleb Williams has been sacked on an opponent’s blitz 18 times in 2024. Williams leads first-year quarterbacks in touchdown passes. Williams is responsible for 73.3% of Chicago’s total yards, the third-highest share by a rookie in NFL history.

The middle statement is false.

Denver’s Bo Nix (14 touchdown passes) and Washington’s Jayden Daniels (10) rank ahead of Williams (9), who’s 23rd in the NFL, and tied with No. 3 pick Drake Maye. (Note: Maye has made four fewer starts).

In 10 games, Williams has clipped 61.8% of his throws for 2,016 yards and rushed 49 times for 306. He recently produced the strangest stat: Williams is the first quarterback per Elias with 20-plus attempts, without a touchdown or interception in four straight contests. His last TD pass was Oct. 13, before the Bears went on bye in Week 7.

Nevertheless, Williams’ skill set makes him a threat to move the chains on any down.

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Three areas where the Minnesota Vikings must improve to keep winning

We know the Vikings are capable of playing with the Lions; their narrow missed opportunity in a 31-29 home loss a month ago is ample evidence of that. This Vikings team is pretty clearly better than the 2022 team that was also 8-2 at this juncture. But if they’re going to have any shot at surpassing Detroit in the NFC North or making a run in the playoffs in a couple months, they’ll have to play a lot better than they have lately.

“I know that it would probably be really fun for us to just steamroll the NFL every single week,” Kevin O’Connell said on Sunday. “It’s just not the way it’s gonna go, which also provides a lot of opportunity to grow and get better … and just constantly chase that progression, knowing that we’re a good football team. Through 10 games, we’ve won eight of ‘em. We’ve got the right mindset. But I do believe, hopefully our best football is ahead of us.”

1. Running the football

The Vikings really struggled to run the ball effectively in O’Connell’s first two seasons as head coach. It was easy to point to Dalvin Cook in 2022 and Alexander Mattison in 2023 and say they needed better play at the running back position, which is why they were so excited about going out and getting Aaron Jones this offseason. But despite having some success earlier this year, that operation hasn’t been particularly smooth in recent weeks.

2. Giving up chunks to opposing passing games

The Vikings’ defense has been absolutely incredible this season. There’s really no other way to put it. They lead the league in defensive DVOA and opponent EPA per play, they’re fourth in scoring defense, they’re tied for the league lead in takeaways, and they’re tied for third in sacks. Brian Flores’ group had five more sacks and a game-sealing interception against the Titans, and Minnesota has given up just 26 total points on defense over the last three weeks.

3. Turnovers

The Vikings certainly took care of the football on Sunday much better than they did in the two previous games, but they still opened the afternoon with a fumble on a toss play on their first possession. That one, which falls on Jones to catch, allowed the Titans to take an early 3-0 lead. It was the 17th giveaway of the season for the Vikings, the fifth-most in the league. It’s also the second time that specific type of play has happened; Ty Chandler failed to corral a toss in the London game in Week 5.

“We’ve gotta execute tossing the football,” O’Connell said. “Whosever fault it was, whoever takes the

ultimate minus on the sheet, it’s catastrophic. We’ve had two of them early on in games and it can’t happen.”

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Matthew Coller: Battle of the builds takes center stage in Vikings-Bears

In 2022, the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears both underwent complete overhauls of their organizational leadership. The Vikings hired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as general manager and Kevin O’Connell as head coach while the Bears brought in GM Ryan Poles and HC Matt Eberflus.

The two teams had different lines of thinking about where to go from there. The Vikings ownership, forever against the idea of tanking, set sail on a “competitive rebuild,” in which they would attempt to do the near impossible in pro sports today: Retool on the fly.

The first leg of the competitive rebuild was 2022. That part was almost all competitive and no rebuild. They reworked contracts and stuck with veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins along with fellow veteran players like Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook, bringing back Patrick Peterson and adding Za’Darius Smith. They took advantage of an NFC North where two other teams were tanking and won 13 games, many of which were barn burners.

Meanwhile, the Bears sold off everything and took a nose dive. They went all the way to the bottom, losing to the Vikings on the last day of the season to secure the No. 1 overall pick and then traded it for a king’s ransom to the Carolina Panthers. A robbery for the ages, so it would turn out.

At that moment, you would have said: Advantage Poles.

You definitely would have said it again in 2023 when it became evident that the Panthers were going to gift wrap the No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams for Chicago. Poles by a million.

However, while the Bears were starting to use their cap space on things like acquiring and extending Montez Sweat, the Vikings had spent the previous offseason making shrewd decisions. They moved on from Kendricks, Thielen and Cook and elected not to give a contract extension to Cousins. O’Connell also hired Brian Flores as his defensive coordinator — a franchise-shifting move, as it would turn out.

Here we are, two-and-a-half years after the two regimes started out and the Vikings are legitimate contenders — some ranking them in the top five teams in the NFL — and the Bears are legitimately in peril.

Vikings fans’ biggest fear of remaining as a middling team would creep in.

From the Bears perspective, a win against the Vikings would be a jolt of energy after Williams played much better last week and — if we’re being honest — they got screwed out of a win over the Packers by the referees ignoring multiple infractions on a blocked field goal.

Chicago is no Titans. They have a positive point differential and they are two weird game-ending plays away from being 6-4 and right in the middle of the race.

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Caleb Williams prepared to take shots against aggressive Vikings defense

The Vikings defense will get their first chance to go up against Bears franchise quarterback Caleb Williams on Sunday. While the defense has been making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks this season, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores isn’t underestimating the struggling rookie.

“Obviously, he’s super talented but it’s the QB mobility that stands out to me and the off-script plays,” Flores said of Williams at his Tuesday press conference.

Williams has completed 61% of his passes for 2,016 yards, nine touchdowns and just five interceptions for the Bears this season. He has also rushed for 306 yards, good for second on the Bears behind running back D’Andre Swift.

“When you’ve got a quarterback like that… you can be in the perfect position, you can have the perfect call, perfect technique, perfect fundamentals, perfect leverage, and he spins out and next thing you know it’s a ball down the field to really good receivers, who can go up and get it,” Flores explained. “We got to do a really good job just from a pass rush awareness standpoint, trying to keep him in the pocket. But every team, every week is saying the exact same things. He’s a really good player.”

It’s as difficult of a test as Williams has faced this season.

“I think obviously he’s going to blitz you,” Williams told Chicago media on Wednesday. “He’s the king of the cover-zero blitz and finding a bunch of different ways to do it.”

“Us being decisive and us having a plan for all of that. Then from there, get the ball to your playmakers, run the ball well and efficiently,” Williams continued. “From there, when they give you shots, give you explosive plays, you make those plays.”

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Vikings Week 13 game against Cardinals not flexed to Monday Night Football

There had been mounting speculation that ESPN would attempt to move out of the scheduled Monday night matchup between the Broncos-Browns that week, with the Vikings-Cardinals game increasingly listed as a likely replacement. According to Broncos On SI senior editor Zack Kelberman, the NFL will not be flexing that Monday night game after all.

With three Thanksgiving Day games, a Black Friday game and a Sunday Night Football game, there were limited options from which to replace the game between the 6-5 Broncos taking on the 2-8 Browns. Outside of the 8-2 Vikings taking on the 6-4 Cardinals, matchups between the 6-5 Falcons and 7-3 Chargers, as well as the 8-2 Eagles against the 8-2 Steelers, were seen as the only other options. The Steelers/Eagles game was a late kick on CBS, so it was likely protected from being moved.

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Bengals predicted to poach $17.5 million Pro Bowler from surging Vikings defense

“One of the biggest reasons the Bengals have underperformed this season is a secondary that is just not holding up its end of the bargain. The Bengals are one of the worst third-down defenses in the league and will need to make changes next season. One of those changes could be finding a veteran who can come in and play cornerback. Turning over the reins of their cornerback position to the young wave of Cam Taylor-Britt and DJ Johnson. Someone like Byron Murphy, who has thrived in Minnesota this season, could come in and change the tone of the secondary.”

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NFL quarterback rankings entering Week 12: Who are QBR leaders for 2024 season?

Daniel Jones, New York Giants (46.8)

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys (46.9)

Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets (51.0)

Justin Fields, Pittsburgh Steelers (53.5)

Andy Dalton, Carolina Panthers (53.7)

C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (54.4)

Joe Flacco, Indianapolis Colts (55.1)

Bo Nix, Denver Broncos (55.3)

Geno Smith, Seattle Seahawks (55.4)

Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings (55.7)

Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (56.2)

Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers (56.3)

Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons (56.3)

Mason Rudolph, Tennessee Titans (56.6)

Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers (59.3)

Jared Goff, Detroit Lions (59.4)

Drake Maye, New England Patriots (59.6)

Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins (60.4)

Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams (60.6)

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (62.0)

Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles (62.0)

Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints (62.1)

Jameis Winston, Cleveland Browns (63.6)

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs (67.0)

Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers (67.4)

Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders (67.6)

Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills (72.7)

Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals (74.9)

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens (75.0)

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals (76.1)

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Yore Mock

Trade Partner: Panthers

Sent: Pick 28

Received: Pick 72, Pick 110, 2026 CAR 1st

…

Trade Partner: Dolphins

Sent: Pick 141, 2026 HOU 7th

Received: Pick 152, Pick 185

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Trade Partner:

Sent: Pick 185, 2026 MIN 7th

Received: Pick 192, Pick 252

…

72. Omarr Norman-Lott DT Tennessee 6’3” 315

100. Connor Colby OG Iowa 6’6” 310

110. Billy Bowman S Oklahoma 5’10” 195

152. Logan Jones OC Iowa 6’3” 293

164. R.J. Harvey Jr. RB UCF 5’9” 208

192. Simeon Barrow Jr. DL Miami (FL) 6’3” 291

252. Aaron Smith LB South Carolina State 6’2” 230

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