Bears Hope To Clinch Division Versus Vikings
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Chicago had fallen out of contention by Thanksgiving weekend last season, a lackluster campaign that included a career-high 26 interceptions thrown by quarterback Jay Cutler after the Bears made a big trade to get him from Denver.
Naturally, the Bears were widely discounted from the division race this year despite an aggressive spending spree in free agency that fetched a potentially dominant defensive end in Julius Peppers.
Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers were riding a wave of preseason praise and Super Bowl predictions. The Minnesota Vikings persuaded Brett Favre to return for another year, bringing back their entire starting lineup from the team coming off a loss in the NFC championship game by three points. Even the Detroit Lions, with game-changing draft pick Ndamukong Suh on their defensive line, looked headed for better days.
But the Bears didn't buy into the external doubt, and here they are with an opportunity to clinch the NFC North this weekend and take another step toward an opening-round bye for the playoffs. The chairs in the offices of head coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo don't seem to be as warm as they were this summer. The defense, save for a severe beating by Tom Brady and New England at a snowy Soldier Field last Sunday, has been back in form. Cutler is playing better.
Skepticism about the quality of their team and ability to advance in the postseason, in which they still haven't secured a spot, abounds from analysts and fans. That's often one of the main motivators for professional athletes, though: proving people wrong.
"I don't think we've caught any breaks. That's football," defensive end Israel Idonije said. "Every year, without exception, guys get hurt and second- and third-string quarterbacks have to play every year."
The Bears (9-4) have sure caught a few teams at the right time, including this week. The Vikings (5-8) are leaning toward starting rookie Joe Webb at quarterback, with Favre's shoulder still hurting and Tarvaris Jackson done for the season because of a foot injury.
Two weeks ago, Webb made his season debut -- as a kickoff returner. He hurt his hamstring a few plays later.
"Maybe he seizes the opportunity and plays a long time," Favre said. "There's only one way to find out."
Getting more comfortable and confident with the offense prior to Monday night's game has been and will be a big challenge for Webb, but he'll also likely have to be ready to brave the winter weather.
Roof damage at the Metrodome rendered Minnesota's home stadium unusable, so the team, the NFL and the University of Minnesota were hastily readying open-air TCF Bank Stadium so the Vikings wouldn't lose another home game like they did when last week's matchup with the New York Giants was sent to Detroit.
"Just in talking to Joe, he's really excited about the opportunity," interim head coach Leslie Frazier said. "He can't wait to line up and play and have a chance to start if that happens. He's not running away from it. We have confidence that he can get it done."
Assuming Favre doesn't make another one of his miraculous recoveries, the only other option for the Vikings at quarterback is Patrick Ramsey, a nine-year veteran who just signed this week.
The Bears voiced concerns this week about playing conditions at TCF Bank Stadium, which wasn't built to handle the extreme cold and had snow drifts well over a foot high throughout the field. Without heating coils underneath the artificial surface to help soften it, the ground could be icy and hard.
"You won't have any traction. You'll slip. You'll see pulled groins, torn ACLs," cornerback Charles Tillman said. "There's all kinds of things that could come about from that. The field will be like asphalt, so mixing that with the combined force that we play with, the force of hitting somebody and getting driven into an asphalt-like turf, you're asking for injuries."
Running back Matt Forte was more focused on a strategy for dealing with such adverse conditions.
"In that type of situation, you have to keep in mind what the footing is," Forte said. "You can't go out there and think that you can run like you're indoors or something like that. Sometimes you've got to run a little flat-footed until you see a hole, and then you've got to burst through it."
The venue change, though, ought to benefit the Bears more than the Vikings. Chicago has lost seven of the last eight games at Minnesota, where the roof traps the noise when the fans get riled up and the pass rush and skill-position players for the Vikings often have an edge on the faster surface. The Bears are built more for outdoors on both sides of the ball.
"It don't matter, man," Vikings defensive tackle Pat Williams said. "At the end of the day, it's a job so you're going to show up and play. Ain't nobody complaining. I don't control that."
If the Packers (8-5) lose at the surging Patriots on Sunday night, the Bears will wrap up the NFC North by beating the Vikings.
"Everybody knows how important this game is," Forte said. "We need to go out there and execute and not make mistakes so we can go out there and win."
The Vikings don't have any obvious motivating factors left, other than pride and performance toward future contracts, but Favre, at least, insisted this is a team that won't quit early.
"This is a good group of guys. You see it all the time with teams across the league, that they've given up," Favre said. "It would be easy to say that we gave up the other night based on how the game went, but I don't think so. I didn't see that. We just needed to play better."
By DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Sports Writer
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