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Monday Night Football, week 8. Tonight we have an NFC North matchup in the Second City. The first place 5-1 Minnesota Vikings travel to Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois to haunt the last place 1-6 Chicago Bears on Halloween. The Vikings have coped with the loss of superstar running back Adrian Peterson and starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in stunning fashion. With rejuvenated quarterback Sam Bradford at the helm and an outstanding defense leading the way the Vikings are in the conversation for the NFC's representative at the Super bowl this season.
The Bears come into the game reeling. Having lost much of their top tier talent the last few years the Bears are in rebuilding mode. Receiver Alshon Jeffery is one of the only top players left on this team and it shows. The Bears have scored 17 points or less in six of their seven games this season, making winning nearly impossible. They somehow have managed to be the worst scoring team in the NFL while being just about average in yards gained. Last week saw the inept Matt Barkley at quarterback after starter Brian Hoyer broke his arm. Barkley never gave his team a chance, completing just 40% of his passes while throwing for zero touchdowns and two interceptions. Tonight could mark the return of Jay Cutler at quarterback, but that hasn't exactly been a great option recently either. Cutler comes into the game with just a 76 passer rating and an 0-2 record this year. On paper this looks like a frighteningly bad matchup, one in a long line of bad Monday Night Football games this year. We'll see if this one turns out to be a trick or a treat for Halloween viewers.