Monday Night Football Betting: Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears

NFC North battle on Monday Night Football this week as the first place Minnesota Vikings head to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears. The Vikings are coming off their first loss of the season, dropping a 21-10 verdict at Philadelphia a week ago Sunday. The 21 points the Eagles scored was the first time this season that Minnesota has allowed more than 16 points. The Vikings still have a two game lead over the Green Bay Packers atop the division and can pick up another divisional win here against the lowly Chicago Bears. The expectation in Chicago was that the Bears would turn around quickly with a proven coach like John Fox taking over the team. That hasn’t happened and the Bears have limped to a 1-6 record heading into this game. They’ve lost 3 straight having last place 11 days ago at Green Bay, losing 26-10. The Bears have a similar stat to the Vikings though in their case its a dubious one–they’ve scored more than 17 points only once this season.

The good news for the Bears is that starting quarterback Jay Cutler has been upgraded to ‘probable’ for this game. At least that’s good news in theory–Brian Hoyer had been playing fairly well before his arm was broken on a dirty hit by Packers’ cheap shot artist Clay Matthews. In any case, Cutler is back under center though when he looks out over the Minnesota defense he may have wished he was still injured. The Vikings are tied with Denver for the best passing defense in football holding opponents to a 55.7 completion percentage. They’re 4th in yards per game allowed (198) but are #1 in opponent passer rating, holding them to a woeful 63.7 rating. They’ve also got 19 sacks and are tied for second in the NFL with 9 interceptions. They’re also the best total defense in football allowing just 279.5 yards per game and tied with Seattle for the scoring defense lead allowing 14 PPG.

Any case for taking the points with the Bears? They’ve had more rest and really need a good performance. On the other hand, they’ve covered one game this season and are on a 6-13 ATS run at Soldier Field. We’d rather lay the chalk with the best defense in football.

BET MINNESOTA VIKINGS -4 OVER CHICAGO BEARS