Bears vs. Vikings: Breaking Down Minnesota's Game Plan

With U-Hauls waiting at the team facilities and warmer destinations on their minds, the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears will face off in frigid Minnesota for the season finale on Sunday.

Chicago enters Week 17 in utter disarray following Jay Cutler's benching, Jimmy Clausen's injury and Cutler's eventual quick reinsertion into the lineup. The veteran team has no assurances its coach or quarterback will be back next season and may just be ready for its shameful season to be over with.

Even though the Vikings are coming off a disappointing loss, excitement follows the recent play of Teddy Bridgewater. Minnesota will look to see an improved defensive performance and more of the same from its quarterback to get Mike Zimmer his first divisional win as head coach.

Let’s compare and contrast these two teams statistically, via StatMilk.com, and then go into how Zimmer and his staff will plan to get that victory.

Go after the safeties

Chicago owns one of the most leaky pass defenses in the league, and safety play contributes greatly to that. Down Chris Conte to injury, the Bears will start Ryan Mundy and rookie Brock Vereen on Sunday. Testing them with intermediate and deep throws is important for Minnesota.

The same point of emphasis was made before the last Chicago game. Unfortunately, receivers struggled to get open, Teddy Bridgewater was hesitant at the trigger and the offensive line struggled.

Bridgewater and his receivers have made significant strides since, especially in the way they have found success with downfield throws. ESPN.com’s Ben Goessling weighs in:

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In last 4 weeks, Teddy Bridgewater leads the league in completion % on throws of 10+ and 15+ yards. Deep ball questions are effectively dead

— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) December 23, 2014"

"

Now, no QB who's started last 4 weeks has tried fewer 15+ throws than Bridgewater. Needs more, but can improve as he grows with WRs.

— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) December 23, 2014"

By getting sharper coverage reads and throwing the ball with anticipation, Bridgewater has found much more success down the field of late. As Goessling points out, though, the deep passing attempts have still not been a regular occurrence.

Against Chicago, aggressive throws give the Vikings a chance to succeed against a struggling secondary and also ask more of the rookie quarterback, providing information about what the coaching staff needs to work on as the Vikings head into the offseason.

Chips for Jared Allen

Matt Kalil put in a better shift against Olivier Vernon in Miami, but he still looked quite rickety and toed disaster a few times. He will need help this week against a defensive end who stole his lunch money last time around.

The former Viking will be excited to return to the city he once played for, surely looking to show the Vikings why they erred in letting him walk. Allen made Kalil look silly in Chicago earlier this season. His signature move, the dip-and-rip around the corner, left the tackle in his wake a few times.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Speed rushes have always been Allen’s forte. Even at an older age, he can accelerate around the corner and bend with terrific balance. He fires his hands through those of the tackle and then pursues the QB with a relentless mentality. For such an incredibly impactful end for so many years, Allen lacks a deep bag of tricks. His one trick happened to be incredible and is still quite good.

Finding ways to slow down Allen and keep Bridgewater upright is a must.

Minnesota will want one more game’s worth of tape on Bridgewater’s season where he has autonomy within the offense and a wide range of plays to execute. If Allen is terrorizing Kalil around the corner and causing aborted plays with any regularity, it hinders Minnesota’s offense and its evaluation of the rookie passer.

Simple chips with a back or a tight end can fix that. It gives the offense a chance to operate and gives Bridgewater a chance to take another step forward before he closes out his rookie season.

Forte effect

Even with the return of Cutler to the starting job at QB, Matt Forte is public enemy No. 1 for the Vikings.

Forte is so important to everything Chicago wants to accomplish offensively because of his versatility. Despite being a running back by trade, he is currently the No. 6 receiver in the league in receptions, leading the closest RB by a wide margin.

When things are collapsing around Cutler, Forte is his security blanket, so long as he doesn’t make an irrational throw into thick coverage. Chicago will even design plays for Forte as a receiver, looking to pick on linebackers who lack the athleticism to keep up.

The importance of linebacker play in pass coverage leads into the next point.

Communicate better in pattern-matching

Minnesota has leaned on pattern-match concepts heavily under Zimmer, which equates to a matchup zone.

By definition, defenders cover man-to-man. If receivers cross, defenders are expected to anticipate that and essentially switch assignments. Pattern-matching helps defend against pick plays and other man-beaters that offenses frequently utilize.

When linebackers, safeties or cornerbacks struggle to pass off and pick up route-runners properly, chaos ensues. That happened a few times against Miami, leading to wide-open receivers over the middle of the field.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

On the game’s first play, the Miami Dolphins crossed with two inside receivers, and Minnesota linebackers were unable to match the patterns. Gerald Hodges is in position to play the tight end’s hook route, but Chad Greenway is too late to recognize the crosser, leaving the Dolphins with a wide-open receiver.

Similar concepts doomed the Vikings on numerous occasions over the middle, both between pairs of linebackers and between linebackers and safeties.

To make matters trickier for Minnesota, the injury report does no favors at the LB position, per VikingUpdate.com:

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#Vikings DNP: Anthony Barr (knee), Brandon Watts (hamstring), Jarius Wright (low back), Chad Greenway (knee), Kyle Rudolph (ankle).

— VikingUpdate.com (@VikingUpdate) December 24, 2014"

With Brandon Watts and Chad Greenway out of practice on Christmas Eve, Minnesota may roll with Gerald Hodges, Jasper Brinkley and Audie Cole, as they did for a stretch against Miami.

The reshuffled unit will need to improve upon its matching of route concepts in the middle of the field. After seeing the way Miami had success passing against Minnesota, Marc Trestman and the Bears will be sure to go back to the well.

Keep shadowing

In each of the last two weeks, Minnesota has experimented defensively by having Xavier Rhodes shadow the opponent’s No. 1 receiver. Results were mixed. Rhodes held his own following Calvin Johnson around, but he had a down day against Mike Wallace last week.

Without Brandon Marshall on the field, the Bears have a clear No. 1 in Alshon Jeffery. Minnesota should continue the experiment.

Jeffery tore up the Vikings back in Week 11 with 11 receptions for 135 yards and a touchdown, by far his most prolific game of the season. He pulled it off by picking on shorter Vikings cornerbacks for the most part. Rhodes is the best physical match for what Jeffery brings to the table.

Receiver	TDs
Alshon Jeffery	9
Martellus Bennett	6
Matt Forte	3
Marquess Wilson	1
Josh Morgan	1

Shadowing Jeffery with Rhodes should give Minnesota a better chance in the red zone as well, because Cutler will favor the tall receiver over his other options.

Even though Rhodes had a down week tracking Wallace, the Vikings have little to lose by trying it again. Tracking Jeffery with the big CB gives them the best chance to hold down the Bears, but it's also a chance to further their evaluation for the future. If shadowing is something in future plans for Rhodes, Minnesota needs to know he can handle the job.

Full evaluation mode

A final plea goes to the coaching staff. While getting back in the win column and avoiding the goose egg in divisional play means something, giving players opportunities for evaluation is important as well.

Take last week for example. The Vikings had 1:06 left in the second quarter from their own 13-yard line. In most cases with a lead before half, taking a conservative approach makes sense. Minnesota needs to evaluate what it has in personnel for the future, though. Putting players in pressure-packed situations can provide insight about what they bring to the table.

Letting Bridgewater take the reins and finding out what he could pull off made more sense. Ultimately, a few timeouts from Miami and a long run from Joe Banyard urged Minnesota to give it a go, and the rookie marched the offense for three points.

The Vikings need to find a better balance in Week 17 when it comes to the priority of winning the game and evaluating players.

By sticking to these keys, the Vikings can bow out of their 2014 season in style.

Statistics via ESPN.com unless noted otherwise.