The first thing that comes to mind with the Minnesota Vikings is the aggressive, foot-on-the-gas approach defensive coordinator Brian Flores brings in terms of a pass rush.
“He’s the king of the Cover-0 blitz,” Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams said Wednesday afternoon.
The variety of blitzes and fronts the Vikings show can be overwhelming for experienced quarterbacks, and it showed up on the first snap of the game last season when the Vikings visited Soldier Field. They rushed six defenders and D.J. Wonnum went unblocked off the edge, tattooing Justin Fields from behind for a sack.
As the Bears plot ways to build off the offensive showing they had in the 20-19 loss to the Green Bay Packers, they have to find ways to continue to run the ball effectively. The Vikings bring the league’s No. 1-ranked run defense to town.
Thomas Brown, who took over as offensive coordinator last week, pledged that everything starts up front, and he remained true to his word. The Bears ran the ball effectively against the Packers with 179 yards. They are 3-2 in games in which they rushed for more than 100 yards, with the two losses both coming on the game’s final play — versus the Packers and Oct. 27 against the Washington Commanders. They’re 1-4 in games they failed to reach 100 yards.
It’s an overly simplistic way to chart a path to victory for the Bears on Sunday, but they must run the ball well enough to stay ahead of the chains and remain balanced so Williams has a chance. The Vikings are allowing only 74.4 rushing yards per game and have been even more stingy recently. Over the last three games, opponents have totaled only 157 yards rushing on 56 carries (2.8 average).
“They’ve got some really underrated dudes on their defense,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “Some guys who I think are playing the best in the league right now and don’t get the credit for it. (Outside linebacker) Andrew Van Ginkel looks really good. Number 0 (inside linebacker Ivan Pace Jr.) looks really shifty but will come and hit you. They’ve got some good players.
“They’re physical and they bring so many different looks. There is going to be a lot on us up front to make sure we ID things correctly, get it communicated right so we can get the run game going.”
With D’Andre Swift nursing a minor groin injury — he missed practice Wednesday — the Bears are going to have their hands full, although it sounds like he could be good by Sunday. As coach Matt Eberflus stated, the Vikings lead the league in forcing opponents into second-and-long situations and they’re No. 4 in the league on first down, allowing 4.68 yards per play; the Bears offense is fourth-worst, averaging 4.57 yards.
Second-and-long is no way to make a living against the Vikings, who are tied for third in the NFL with 35 sacks and have three outside linebackers with seven or more — Van Ginkel with eight and Pat Jones and Jonathan Greenard with seven each.
“Staying committed to the run game, I think that’s an important piece to it,” Eberflus said.
So the Bears, as best they can, have been preparing for the variety of looks and pressures, both versus the pass and run, as they’ve gotten into game-planning.
“Just defining it and keeping it really tight,” Eberflus said. “Not too many things but things that are effective. The answers have to be defined and they’ve got to be simple and they’ve got to be correct to be able to find the space that you need to in the pass game and in the run game.”