Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings: Play for the Win or the Draft Pick?

The Minnesota Vikings' win over the Washington Redskins last Saturday contained some of the worst losses of the season for the purple, and that's saying something in this wretched season.

The win certainly cost the Vikings any shot at drafting Andrew Luck, the best quarterback prospect in a decade, and more than likely cost them a shot at getting franchise left tackle Matt Kalil. The Vikings also lost star running back Adrian Peterson to a serious knee injury, one that will have him on the shelf for up to nine months and possibly longer.

We can argue all day long about all of the above. Should Minnesota have blown their last two meaningless games in order to ensure the highest pick possible? Are you ever right in telling professional athletes to do anything other than try to win? Should Adrian Peterson have been on the field at all after suffering a high-ankle sprain a few weeks back? Is it worth risking the future of your best player when you are simply playing out the string?

The Vikings' win over the Redskins only added more questions to the long-term future of the team, most notably: Is Joe Webb a better starting quarterback option than Christian Ponder?

The good news for Vikings fans is that the GM has openly stated that he will tackle all of these questions immediately. Oh, wait, the Vikings don't have a GM.

So, will the Vikings drop from a possible shot at the number one pick all the way down to sixth with a win over the Bears? Is Christian Ponder the answer at quarterback? Will Adrian Peterson ever be the same? Can Leslie Frazier coach? 

We don't know the answer to any of those questions yet, so let's first go over the good news: the Vikings still have a pretty decent shot at Matt Kalil and they now know they at least have pretty good backups in both Joe Webb and Toby Gerhart.

As far as Kalil goes, the Vikings would have to lose to the Bears and the Colts would have to beat the Jaguars, neither of which seems too crazy. The Rams are the one team that would more than likely trade out of the No. 1 spot for all of the picks it would bring them, and the Colts probably wouldn't take a left tackle in the first round two years in a row. 

The Bears come to Minneapolis playing worse football than the Vikings, having lost all five games since Jay Cutler broke his thumb in a win over the Chargers on November 20. The Bears were 7-3 at the time and Cutler was playing at a Pro Bowl level. The Bears bet way wrong on the talent of backup Caleb Hanie and have gone 0-5 without Cutler, turning a playoff season into a lost one.

The Bears have shelved both Cutler and All-Pro running back Matt Forte for the Vikings game, seeing no reason to risk further injury in a meaningless game (what a concept!).

The Vikings announced on Wednesday that Ponder will start on Sunday, getting one last look at him in a game situation before heading into the off-season. 

Sunday's game is meaningless to be sure, and nobody would say getting cornerback Morris Claiborne in the draft assures you of a better future than getting Justin Blackmon or Riley Reiff. Nonetheless, Vikings fans will have their eyes on scoreboards all over the league, watching what happens in St. Louis, Jacksonville, Atlanta and Cleveland.

Come Monday morning though, the real work will begin for the Minnesota Vikings, because win or lose on Sunday, they are facing far more questions than answers this offseason.