It’s incumbent on beleaguered rookie Caleb Williams to figure out the Vikings defense in Week 12. … [+]
The Chicago Bears have lost four straight games and are in last place in the NFC North. They have crumbled at the end of games, giving up a last-second touchdown and getting a field goal blocked that have turned sure victories into brutal defeats. When it comes to execution at the most crucial moments, head coach Matt Eberflus and the Bears certainly know how to choke a game away.
But the Bears (4-6) have talent and the Vikings are playing their third consecutive game on the road. This is a nasty assignment for head coach Kevin O’Connell’s team. His team is facing an opponent that is desperate and dangerous. The wounded Bears have to come away with a victory over the Vikings or they will simply bleed out.
They made a significant move last week when they jettisoned offensive coordinator Shane Waldron for his inept leadership of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense and replaced him with Thomas Brown. In his first game as the team’s offensive guru, Brown had success as Williams threw for a 231 yards and ran for a season-best 70 yards.
The Vikings have taken notice of Williams’ ability to escape the initial pass rush and make key plays with his legs. They have to prevent Williams from doing that if they are going to keep the young quarterback from gaining confidence in this matchup.
“His mobility is not talked about enough. He can escape the pocket and make a lot of plays with his legs, so we’ve got to rush accordingly and try to keep him in the pocket,” Vikings outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel said. “You don’t want to rush scared, but you’ve definitely got to rush smart.”
Van Ginkel has a team-leading 8.0 sacks for the Vikings and is one of three key defenders with 7.0 sacks or more. Both Jonathan Greenard and Pat Jones have 7.0 sacks this season. In addition to those two, linebacker Ivan Pace has a team-leading 59 tackles and 6 tackles for loss and safety Cam Bynum has 53 tackles, 8 passes defensed and 3 interceptions.
Blake Cashman may be the key player on the Vikings defense. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
The best player on the defense may be linebacker Blake Cashman, who was forced to miss three games earlier this year with a turf toe injury. However, when he has been in the lineup, Cashman has excelled with 49 tackles, 3.0 sacks and 5 tackles for loss.
Since Cashman has missed a few games, he is the player that Williams and the Bears may not be looking for on Game Day.
The Vikings defense has been the best in the league against the run, giving up just 77.4 yards per game. If they are going to control this game against a team that must come up with a victory to have any chance at saving the season, that has to continue. The Vikings must continue to play shutdown football when it comes to D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson and Williams running with the ball.
If they can, then it is incumbent on Williams playing perfect football against the Brian Flores defense. The Vikings defensive coordinator has a stellar record against rookie quarterbacks, going 7-1 against them throughout his coaching career. That means his ability to bring pressure from multiple directions is likely to confuse the No. 1 draft choice.
If Williams gets decent protection and can hang in the pocket, receivers D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze, Keenan Allen and tight end Cole Kmet are capable of making plays. The Vikings’ 28th-ranked pass defense remains a work in progress and they are vulnerable in one-on-one coverage situations.
The biggest mismatch in the Vikings favor appears to be on the sidelines. O’Connell consistently gets the best out of his team and that’s why they are within one game of the Detroit Lions in the NFC North.
On the other hand, Eberflus has been clueless. The Bears have fallen apart in the most crucial moments and their lack of preparation in a Hail Mary loss to the Washington Commanders and a field goal block suffered against the Green Bay Packers is likely to be his Chicago legacy.
After a favorable schedule in the first half of the season, the Bears now have the most difficult closing stretch of any team in the league. After this home game against the Vikings, the Bears have a pair of games against the Lions, road games against the 49ers, Vikings and Packers and a home game against the Seahawks.
Perhaps the Bears will win one more game this season, two at the outside. At the start of the season, the smart money was on Chicago becoming one of the surprise teams of the season. That money has been flushed away and the Bears are a last-place team.