The rest of the season ...

If the Vikes go 6-1, then they are among the elites again this year.  I'm just not sure how good this team is.  The only "good" team we've beaten is Philly, and their record is 4-4.

I'm sure I'll be in "All In" mode with a sweet, dominating win in Chicago, but I have to see them do it first.

I actually think Chicago is a good team. Mack will probably be back by the time we play them. In their house on SNF is a tough game. I hope we can pull it off.
I'm already a believer in this team but if we beat the Bears then I'll reeeeally be feeling good. It's a huge game.
@ New England is a loss. @ Seattle is tough. But win the other 5 and we'll be division champs I think.

if we win at Chicago, this team loses ONLY 1 down the stretch   11-4-1, which was a Carlson kick from 12-4 (which i think is a succesful season with everything considered)

lose at Chicago and I believe we will be in a dog fight to the end, but ending up in the playoffs regardless

Bitch is, barring a complete collapse from LA or NO, we will be #3 seed.

Luckily with Cousins willing to engage in a shoot out, we should have an opportunity to exact revenge on both if necessary

Of the 3, LA and NO offesnively are equal and ahead of us (due to injury), but defensively we are overall better than both.  Let us hope the old addage of defense in January wins football games

I know Chicago is good, and that is primarily because of their defense, mostly, but not exclusively, Mack. The Vikings have a very good defense, too.  So long as we avoid killer turnovers - strip sacks, pick 6s - the defenses pretty much even out.  The difference is on the other side of the ball.  I like our offense better than Chicago's. 
And bottom line is, I think we have to beat them to consider ourselves elite.

Methinks some of you have only watched highlights of the Bears. There is zero.zero percent chance Minnesota kicks their butts in Chicago.

Howard and Cohen are a great 1-2 punch. And they both line up anywhere as receiving threats with Cohen having true Home Run potential if he's covered by a LB. Barr has been a disaster in coverage this year and Kendricks has noticeably regressed.

Trey Burton is athletic. Taylor  Gabriel can run right by you. Allen Robinson is a cagey veteran. Their O-Line is good. Trubisky is killing Defenses with designed runs and ad libs,

But Nagy is their biggest weapon. He's running a ton of misdirection that's scheming guys wide spanking open. And that is helping mask Mitch's accuracy issues.

Everything they do well Minnesota has struggled with.

This team has historically struggled on Soldiers Field, including under Zimmer, against far weaker Bears teams than this one.

Frankly, I'm penciling in a loss. The Vikings need to win out at home and beat both the Lions and the SeaHags on the road. Not sure I'd bet on either happening.

@"FSUVike" said: Methinks some of you have only watched highlights of the Bears. There is zero.zero percent chance Minnesota kicks their butts in Chicago.

Howard and Cohen are a great 1-2 punch. And they both line up anywhere as receiving threats with Cohen having true Home Run potential if he's covered by a LB. Barr has been a disaster in coverage this year and Kendricks has noticeably regressed.

Trey Burton is athletic. Taylor  Gabriel can run right by you. Allen Robinson is a cagey veteran. Their O-Line is good. Trubisky is killing Defenses with designed runs and ad libs,

But Nagy is their biggest weapon. He's running a ton of misdirection that's scheming guys wide spanking open. And that is helping mask Mitch's accuracy issues.

Everything they do well Minnesota has struggled with.

This team has historically struggled on Soldiers Field, including under Zimmer, against far weaker Bears teams than this one.

Frankly, I'm penciling in a loss. The Vikings need to win out at home and beat both the Lions and the SeaHags on the road. Not sure I'd bet on either happening.

Chicago will be a dog fight...  but I think you're overhyping the Bears offense.  Howard isn't being used in the receiving game this year...  he has like 10 catches all season and 5 of them came in Week 1.  Cohen is the guy they are moving around in space and kicking out into the slot.  Rhodes can matchup with Robinson and Trae Waynes has the speed to cover Gabriel.  That said, the Bears will give us problems if we can't keep Trubisky in the pocket and get fooled by their mis-direction plays and screen game.
You also fail to mention what problems the Bears defense will have with our offense...  Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, Latavius Murray, and the best WR duo in the league aren't exactly chopped liver.  We also have a very good defense.  I'm throwing out the first couple weeks and looking at the past 5...  the Vikings defense is back and might be better than last year (better on 3rd downs and in the red zone).
It could go either way and will likely be decided by which defense can get the big stop/turnover late in the game.

I get that Chicago is good, and I am not necessarily predicting any result. They're good. But they are not elite. I just think if we cannot beat them twice, then we are not that good. And maybe that's how it is.
Their line is good, but I think they just put Long on IR. Howard is OK. He's a run-of-the-mill RB; not special. Cohen can beat you with speed.  That's his talent. OK, he has to have something. Gabriel is like our Aldrick Robinson. Allen Robinson is not as good as either Diggs or Thielen.  Trubisky is not as good as Cousins. 
We are going to lose to Trubisky, a QB who is mostly a good athlete? And we lose to Brees and Brady who are not good athletes.  We should have little chance against Rodgers, who is like Brees and Brady, but a much better athlete.
I'm not saying we definitely win.  But if we can only beat teams where we are superior at every position, what does that say about our coaching contributing to wins? If misdirection catches us by surprise at this stage of the season, someone should punch Zimmer in the neck.

The Bears' biggest problem is Trubisky, and he won't have an easy time against this defense. Except for maybe Fitz M(tr)agic in Tampa, there isn't a QB who is playing farther behind his hype. 

Former GM, Michael Lombardi seems to agree...“You couldn’t get me to buy Mitchell Trubisky if you had him on a discount rack at Filene’s Basement,” Lombardi said. “There’s no chance. There’s no chance. He can’t throw the ball inbounds half the time.”
“It’s a joke. I was in Chicago this week and all I saw was Trubisky jerseys. I was thinking you people are crazy! You’re going to be selling them in three years.
“When they have to play somebody tough, I think it’s a real problem…I think the Bears are overvalued.”

Handle awful and spiraling Jets and Lioms teams. Beat an entirely mediocre Eagles team. Get 'moral victories' by hanging in against the Rams and Saints.

But a division foe with a better record is overrated?

Sorry. The Defense has done its job against lesser talent of late and certainly did well against the Saints and all their skill. But that was one game. At home. Not enough of a sample size against quality Offenses for me to view them as back. Not when I've seen them tank in LA and hold of for dear life in Green Bay.

As for the Offense, well, a 3rd Quarter TD would be nice. But more than that it's the sheer inconsistency. Turnovers. Drive killing penalties. Wonky playcalling at times.

I'm just not there yet. Love them beating who they are supposed to beat. Don't think that's enough to give me confidence when they have such a hard time in Chicago.

We need to run the ball in Chicago plain and simple. We need ball control O and time gobbling drives. We need to make their defense stay on the field and then our D can pin their ears back and give Trubisky the Matt Stafford treatment.
Will it happen? Hell if I know. I think we as fans over and undersell our team (mostly undersell). I liked what I saw on Sunday. Time to see what Dalvin really has.

I went from WTF at the start of this year to wait and see. 

As far as next week? Lets see...

Night Game, National Game, Grass Field, Outdoors, Cold, On-the-road, Soldier Field. A recipe for a loss most of the time the past 10 years. 

I mark this as an L and hope they find a way to win against Seattle or NE

Not sure I'm seeing 10 wins out of this team. No signature wins and moral victories = L in the W/L column. Such a far cry from where I started the season. 

@"FSUVike" said: Handle awful and spiraling Jets and Lioms teams. Beat an entirely mediocre Eagles team. Get 'moral victories' by hanging in against the Rams and Saints.

But a division foe with a better record is overrated?

Sorry. The Defense has done its job against lesser talent of late and certainly did well against the Saints and all their skill. But that was one game. At home. Not enough of a sample size against quality Offenses for me to view them as back. Not when I've seen them tank in LA and hold of for dear life in Green Bay.

As for the Offense, well, a 3rd Quarter TD would be nice. But more than that it's the sheer inconsistency. Turnovers. Drive killing penalties. Wonky playcalling at times.

I'm just not there yet. Love them beating who they are supposed to beat. Don't think that's enough to give me confidence when they have such a hard time in Chicago.

They lost to the Packers at home, got a moral victory with a close loss to the Patriots, and lost to a Miami team that isn't very good.

I guess I don't see why you are so confident that Chicago is that much better than the Vikings.  They aren't.  BOTH teams have flaws at the mid-point of the season.  I'm expecting the division to be a dog fight until the end of the season.  Too early to tell who will come out on top.

No one will say that New England is not elite because they had to come from behind to beat Chicago on the road, while Chicago came within 1 yard of tying that game on the last play.  NE is an elite team. They did what elite teams do: go on the road and beat a good, but not elite, opponent.
Whether it's a dog fight, a cat fight (that would be weird), or a street fight, it does not matter. If the Vikings are to be taken seriously when they call themselves elite, they need to beat Chicago on the road and win the rest of their NFC North games. And they need to beat inferior teams like Miami and Seattle, regardless of where they play.  That leaves NE on the road. Losing that game does not undermine a claim of being elite. KC lost a close one at NE. KC is unquestionably elite.
If the Vikings can win the rest of their non-NE games and put in a gritty performance against the Patriots on the road, they will definitely be a team to be reckoned with.

@"Wetlander" said:

@"FSUVike" said: Handle awful and spiraling Jets and Lioms teams. Beat an entirely mediocre Eagles team. Get 'moral victories' by hanging in against the Rams and Saints.

But a division foe with a better record is overrated?

Sorry. The Defense has done its job against lesser talent of late and certainly did well against the Saints and all their skill. But that was one game. At home. Not enough of a sample size against quality Offenses for me to view them as back. Not when I've seen them tank in LA and hold of for dear life in Green Bay.

As for the Offense, well, a 3rd Quarter TD would be nice. But more than that it's the sheer inconsistency. Turnovers. Drive killing penalties. Wonky playcalling at times.

I'm just not there yet. Love them beating who they are supposed to beat. Don't think that's enough to give me confidence when they have such a hard time in Chicago.

Where is Chicago's signature win?  They've beat the Bills with a couple defensive TDs...  Beat the Jets by less than we did...  Smacked down a terrible Bucs team...  squeaked out a victory against a terrible Cardinals team...  And beat Seattle early in the season when the Seahawks weren't playing well.

They lost to the Packers at home, got a moral victory with a close loss to the Patriots, and lost to a Miami team that isn't very good.

I guess I don't see why you are so confident that Chicago is that much better than the Vikings.  They aren't.  BOTH teams have flaws at the mid-point of the season.  I'm expecting the division to be a dog fight until the end of the season.  Too early to tell who will come out on top.

@"FSUVike" said:

@"Wetlander" said:

@"FSUVike" said: Handle awful and spiraling Jets and Lioms teams. Beat an entirely mediocre Eagles team. Get 'moral victories' by hanging in against the Rams and Saints.

But a division foe with a better record is overrated?

Sorry. The Defense has done its job against lesser talent of late and certainly did well against the Saints and all their skill. But that was one game. At home. Not enough of a sample size against quality Offenses for me to view them as back. Not when I've seen them tank in LA and hold of for dear life in Green Bay.

As for the Offense, well, a 3rd Quarter TD would be nice. But more than that it's the sheer inconsistency. Turnovers. Drive killing penalties. Wonky playcalling at times.

I'm just not there yet. Love them beating who they are supposed to beat. Don't think that's enough to give me confidence when they have such a hard time in Chicago.

Where is Chicago's signature win?  They've beat the Bills with a couple defensive TDs...  Beat the Jets by less than we did...  Smacked down a terrible Bucs team...  squeaked out a victory against a terrible Cardinals team...  And beat Seattle early in the season when the Seahawks weren't playing well.

They lost to the Packers at home, got a moral victory with a close loss to the Patriots, and lost to a Miami team that isn't very good.

I guess I don't see why you are so confident that Chicago is that much better than the Vikings.  They aren't.  BOTH teams have flaws at the mid-point of the season.  I'm expecting the division to be a dog fight until the end of the season.  Too early to tell who will come out on top.

It's in Chicago, Wet. Mike has lost to bad teans on Soldier Field. This is not a bad Chicago team. And the Vikings are as bereft of a signature win as they are. 

@"FSUVike" said:

It's in Chicago, Wet. Mike has lost to bad teans on Soldier Field. This is not a bad Chicago team. And the Vikings are as bereft of a signature win as they are. 

I hope all of you are right. Beating them in Chicago would be the first step in locking down the North.

Chicago's defense is very good. Chicago's offense is very average. They rely on turnovers and points from their defense. If we do not beat ourselves like we did in the Saints game, we should win this game - indoors, outdoors, home or away.  Trubisky is an above average runner and a below average passer.  There are not a lot of great QBs you can describe that way. Their receivers are average. Their RBs are average. They have a good TE.  Their offense is like SF's with Beathard at QB. 

Even bad Bear's teams have given us problems there. I hope we don't come out slow and rusty after the bye. We can win this game. I'm not confident we will.
Their best offense is a scoring defense. Don't give them that.

The key against the Bears is to shut down Howard and Cohen.  If we can keep them in 3rd and long, I don't think Trubisky is accurate enough to keep many drives alive.

Cousins needs to protect the football as well.  No more fucking fumbles...