The Minnesota Vikings opened the season with a home win over their biggest rival, the Green Bay Packers. It wasn’t exactly how most of us drew it up, but as the old saying goes, you never apologize for an NFL win.
That said, I’m not leaving Week 1 feeling overly confident about this team. Sure, watching the Packers melt down was fucking awesome. But are we letting the 4th quarter overshadow concerns from the first three quarters?
Now they head to Chicago for another critical NFC North showdown against the Bears. Every divisional game matters, and we’ll learn a lot more about this team on Sunday than we did in Week 1.
I’ll be posting these previews every week throughout the season, so follow along for the game notes, a Vikings vibe check, gambling picks, score predictions, and plenty of overreactions as we ride the emotional roller coaster that is Vikings football in 2026.
Game Information
Matchup: Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears
Date/Time: 9/20/26 Noon CST
Location: Soldier Field
TV: Fox
Season & Weekly Vibe Check
Current Mood Meter
🔥 Elite Vibes
😎 Feeling Good
🙂 Cautiously Optimistic
😐 Wait and See
😬 Concerned
🚨 Full Minnesota Panic Mode
Fan Vibe Check
This Week’s Mood: 😐 Wait and See. It’s too early in the year to be concerned which is why I went with wait and see.
It always feels good to beat your biggest rival, especially when you do so in comeback fashion and watch your opponent melt down in a matter of 10 minutes. The comeback gives the Vikings a small early cushion by getting one up on a division foe in the standings. It also prevents feeling the pressure of the dreaded 0-2 start. But if we took away the last 10 minutes of the game I think we’ all have a very different vibe around the Vikings right now. Remember last year when nine rattled off 22 straight point to comeback against the Bears after three straight quarters of looking like ass? We thought we found our franchise guy. Turns out that couldn’t have been more wrong.
Now, that doesn’t mean this Vikings team is destined for the same outcomes as last year, but it does mean we shouldn’t overlook one good quarter of football, in which the other team had a big helping hand in turning your fortunes around. There are two other issues giving me pause from feeling really good about this team. Health and a shotty o-line.
Health Already In Issue?
Kyler Murray went down early, and Jordan Mason has been placed on IR. It also sounds like Brian O’Neil could be out this week. He was listed as DNP Thursday according to the team’s official injury report. Focusing on the Murray situation, it’s concerning that basically 8 plays into his Vikings career Murray looks to miss at least 1 game. When signing Murray this offseason we knew there was a good chance Wentz or JJ would have to play a game or two. It looks like Wentz will be the starter early in the season.
The Vikings can win with Wentz, but if we have to go through another QB carousel in 2026 then how much of the other positive factors of this team really matter? Wentz is vulnerable to injury as well. Don’t even get me started on nine. It’ll be hard to take this team serious if we can’t get Kyler in on a consistent basis. Hopefully we look back and this concussion as a small blip and not a reoccurring theme. On the O-line part… It’s week 1 so there’s room for some rope here, which I may use if I have to watch Will Fries all season, but the Vikings O-line looked awful pretty much all game I thought.
To leave this part on a positive note. Brian Flores and the defense look set up to be great again this season, meaning we should be in almost every game. Yes, I understand we gave up too many chunk plays, but that has always come with the boom or bust nature of Flores scheme. And for as many bad plays as we had we had as equal or more drive & game altering plays as well. Not to mention Jordan Love looked really good all game (puke) and may be one of the better QB’s we play all season. I expect Flores and company to make opposing QB lives hell this season again and the Vikings offense will benefit greatly from it.
Around the NFC North
A quick recap of our division foes round out the vibes… The Lions held off the Saints second half comeback and won on a failed two point try. The Lions should be in the mix all year but clearly have flaws.
The Bears put up 59 on the Panthers. It’s hard to judge after week 1 games, but my preseason prediction of the Bears regressing doesn’t look good currently. This week’s matchup against a good Vikings defense should be a better tell.
Everyone in the division sits at 1-0 except for Green Bay.
Game Notes & Overview
The State of the Vikings
- Current Record: 1-0
- NFC Standing: 2nd
- Last Week’s Result: W vs Green Bay
- Key Injuries: Kyler Murray & Jordan Mason
- Major Storylines: We continue to have China dolls at QB but our defense is still sick thank God.
About the Bears
- Record: 1-0
- NFC Standing: 5th
- Last Week’s Result: W @ Carolina
- Key Injuries: None
- Major Storylines: The Bears put up 59 last week & nail polish boy could actually be a top 10 QB but we will give it a few more weeks before declaring for sure.
Three Things That Will Decide the Game
- Keeping Caleb Williams in the pocket.
- Which teams run game is more affective
- The Vikings O-line holding up to give our receivers a chance against a bad Chicago secondary.
My Biggest Concern
Carson Wentz. Again, the comeback last week was fun. But, outside of a few plays, most of which were set up by great field position Wentz looked mediocre. He missed layup throws, didn’t see guys running open down field, and was scrambling for his life at times.
Why the Vikings Could Win
The Vikings run defense was great last week. They have a much bigger challenge this week. If they can slow down the run game of the Bears, force the Bears into some turnovers, and get big days out of their elite wide receiver duo then I think they have a chance to come out on top. The Bears pass defense is one of the worst in the NFL and the Vikings have a chance to take advantage of it.
Betting Corner
Best Bet
Pick: Bears -4.5
Odds: -108
Why I like it: The Bears return home feeling confident, are facing a backup QB, and haven’t won vs the Vikings at Soldier field since 2019. They’re due and the vibes are on their side this week in their home opener.
Player Prop of the Week
Pick: Jordan Addison over 37.5 receiving yards
Odds: -110
Why I like it: Addison was held off the stat sheet last week. A player of his caliber against this secondary should bounce back, even with a backup QB at the helm.
Bets I’m Staying Away From
Pick: Aaron Jones over 61.5 rushing yards
Reason: The Vikings are short Jordan Mason this week, which means in theory Jones should get a lot of work. However, the Vikings rushing game efficiency last week was not good, averaging just 2.6 yards per rush. That and at Jones’ age it’s likely Deejay Dallas gets some touches this week.
Predictions
Just Win MN’s Final Score Predictions
Jakeybigs: Vikings 17, Bears 28
Ben Vikings 17, Bears 30
Woody Vikings 30, Bears 27
Spread Prediction
Bears -4.5
Bold Prediction
Garrett Bradbury gives up 8 sacks and is spotted on the sidelines crying.
Bottom Line
The Vikings are coming into this game shorthanded and the Bears riding the high of their home opener followed by a 59 burger on the road against what was expected to be a good defense in Carolina this year. For these reason’s I’m picking the Bears this week. I think it would take some fortunate bounces and winning the turnover battle marginally for the Vikings to come out on top.
Season Prediction Tracker
Straight-Up Game Predictions
(Read our initial season predictions here)
Jakeybigs – 1-0
Ben- 1-0
Woody- 1-0
Against the Spread
Jakeybigs – 1-0
Best Bets
Jakeybigs – 1-0
That wraps our week 2 preview. I’ll being doing these all season long. Leave your comments where you think I’m right and where you think I’m an idiot. Either way let’s hope the Vikings pull out a W and start the season off 2-0. Until then SKOL & JUST WIN MN!
