Chicago Bears (6-7 6-7 ATS) at Minnesota Vikings (6-7 6-7 ATS)
It is pretty simple for this NFC North matchup, as the loser will be out of the playoff picture. The Vikings are a 3-point home betting favorite with a total of 47.
While this division matchup will take place in the Land of 10,000 Lakes the public money has heavily been on the Bears. They opened as a 6-point underdog and as of Wednesday are a 3-point dog.
Both the Vikes and the Bears are at 6-7 one game back of the Arizona Cardinals for the last NFC Wild Card spot.
These bitter rivals met a few weeks back in Chicago where the Vikings beat the Bears 19-13.
The Bears saved their season in their last game snapping their six-game losing streak with a 38-7 blowout win over the Houston Texans. The 38 points the team put up were a season-high and the defense only gave up seven points while they had given up a combined 75 points in their previous two games.
The Vikings had won two in a row before their last game where they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-14. One major issue for the team has been the kicking game with Dan Baily missing three field goals and a PAT in the loss to the Bucs. The team continually went for it on fourth down in the second half losing faith in Baily and they need to right their kicking woes if they are going to make the playoffs.
The home team has covered the spread in seven of the last 10 games between these teams.
The Streak Is Over!
The Bears snapped their 6-game skid in their blowout win over the Texans where they outgained them 410 yards to 263 yards. Chicago only ranks 28th in the league in rushing yards per game (93.2) but they rushed for 169 yards in the win over Houston.
Mitchell Trubisky has played pretty well since getting his starting job back and in the last three games, he has seven TD. In that span, he also has two INT but none in the last two games.
Allen Robinson II leads the Bears with 1,027 receiving yards while the next leading target only has 450 yards. He has at least 74 yards in each of his last three games and in the win over Houston he tied a season-high with 123 receiving yards.
RB David Montgomery has picked up his production, as in the last three games he rushed for over 100 yards in two of them In the win over the Texans he rushed for 123 yards with 80 coming on one TD scamper.
Minnesota ranks in the middle of the pack on defense, but they dominated on D in their win over the Bears this season holding them to 149 total yards.
Need to Ride Cook
In the Vikings’ last game, they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-14 where star RB Dalvin Cook had over 100 yards, but the team had to lean on the pass in the second half attempting a comeback.
Minnesota only scored 14 points in the game while in their previous two games, both wins, they scored 28 points and 27 points respectively.
Kirk Cousins had thrown three TD in three straight games before only having one in the loss to Tampa as well as losing a fumble. He has a good WR corps but the team needs to lean on Cook, who is the second-leading rusher in the league.
Cook has rushed for at least 102 yards in three of his last four games and rushed for 96 in the win over the Bears earlier this season.
Prediction
The Bears are only 3-9 ATS in their last 12 road games but the Vikings are only 1-4 ATS in their last five home games.
The Vikes won in the Windy City a few weeks back and they will get the sweep over the Bears in the season-series winning at home. They will feed Cook the ball early and often and they will not get down big like they did in the loss to Tampa Bay. Minnesota will win and cover and keep their playoff hopes alive.
PICK: Vikings -3