Post by Funkytown on Jul 15, 2020 12:41:02 GMT -6
Quick story: I moved to Minnesota to cover the Vikings for 1500ESPN in late August 2016. If you recall, that was right around when Teddy Bridgewater suffered a catastrophic knee injury and the Vikings traded for Sam Bradford and then subsequently started the season with five straight wins.
They came out of the bye week and put together a miserable showing against the Philadelphia Eagles but then had the perfect opponent for a bounce back coming up the following week versus the lowly Chicago Bears.
Chicago was 1-6 entering that Monday Night Football contest and had failed to score 20 points in all but one game. The previous week, the Bears had been smashed 26-10 by the Green Bay Packers in a contest in which the Pack out-gained them 406 to 189 in total yards.
I thought the Bears had no shot against the Vikings and Vegas agreed, making the Vikings 4.5 favorites on the road. Oh how little did I know about the Vikings’ history at Soldier Field.
The game opened with a 69-yard rush by running back Jordan Howard and it was downhill from there. Jay Cutler had one of his best games of the season (252 yards, one touchdown, zero interceptions) versus a Vikings defense that had slowed down Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton and Eli Manning in the early weeks of the season. And the offense was nothing short of a disaster, gaining just 258 total yards. By the end of the third quarter, the score was 20-3 Bears.
We would find out in the following days that Mike Zimmer suffered an eye injury during (or after?) the game that required a half dozen surgeries, forced him to miss a key game against the Cowboys and coach with an eye patch in Jacksonville. Not to mention that some type of disagreement on the scheme led to Norv Turner resigning.
The Bears lost 36-10 to Tampa Bay the following week and ultimately finished the year 3-13.
They came out of the bye week and put together a miserable showing against the Philadelphia Eagles but then had the perfect opponent for a bounce back coming up the following week versus the lowly Chicago Bears.
Chicago was 1-6 entering that Monday Night Football contest and had failed to score 20 points in all but one game. The previous week, the Bears had been smashed 26-10 by the Green Bay Packers in a contest in which the Pack out-gained them 406 to 189 in total yards.
I thought the Bears had no shot against the Vikings and Vegas agreed, making the Vikings 4.5 favorites on the road. Oh how little did I know about the Vikings’ history at Soldier Field.
The game opened with a 69-yard rush by running back Jordan Howard and it was downhill from there. Jay Cutler had one of his best games of the season (252 yards, one touchdown, zero interceptions) versus a Vikings defense that had slowed down Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton and Eli Manning in the early weeks of the season. And the offense was nothing short of a disaster, gaining just 258 total yards. By the end of the third quarter, the score was 20-3 Bears.
We would find out in the following days that Mike Zimmer suffered an eye injury during (or after?) the game that required a half dozen surgeries, forced him to miss a key game against the Cowboys and coach with an eye patch in Jacksonville. Not to mention that some type of disagreement on the scheme led to Norv Turner resigning.
The Bears lost 36-10 to Tampa Bay the following week and ultimately finished the year 3-13.
Let’s start with the broad strokes of the Chicago Hex.
Since 2000, the Vikings are 4-16 on the road against the Bears despite being favored 10 times. The Bears have beaten the spread 16 of 20 times.
The Bears haven’t completely had the Vikings’ number in the last 20 years since Minnesota’s record at home versus Chicago during the same time span is 14-6 (of course, one of those losses booted the Vikings from the playoffs in 2018).
Overall the Vikings’ road winning percentage excluding the Bears from 2000-2019 is only .399 but it’s .200 against Chicago. Yet of the 17 games the two teams played that weren’t in Week 1 or 2, the Bears only faced the Vikings with winning records entering the game three total times.
And the list of Chicago quarterbacks who have beaten Minnesota in the last 20 years is something. It goes like this: Jim Miller, Rex Grossman, Chad Hutchinson, Kyle Orton, Jay Cutler, Mitch Trubisky, Chase Daniel.
The win over the Vikings was one of three in Hutchinson’s career and his only victory during his time in Chicago. Likewise, Daniel has three career wins in his decade-long NFL career. Orton posted 48 points against the Vikings in 2008, a season in which he failed to clear 3,000 yards in 15 starts.
Cutler beat Brett Favre in 2009 despite being an 8.5-point underdog. Receiver Devin Aromashodu gained 150 of his total 298 yards in a 36-30 shootout win for Chicago in that game. If you’re wondering, yes, that was the contest that if the Vikings had won they would have been playing at home in the NFC Championship game in ‘09.
The sheer number of “what the…” factoids during these games is enough to make your head spin.
In 2002, Daunte Culpepper’s Vikings were leading by 10 with nine minutes remaining and Jim Miller led a furious comeback, scoring touchdowns on his final two drives and finishing with 297 yards passing, 198 of which went to receiver Marty Booker. Miller finished the season 2-6 as a starter and never played another game in the NFL.
In 2003, the Culpepper-led Vikings finished sixth in scoring. But when they traveled to Soldier Field, Minnesota managed their lowest point total of the year in a 13-10 loss to Rex Grossman, who went 13-for-30 that day.
The following year, the Vikings lost despite being 7-point favorites.
The saddest of losses came in 2011 when Donovan McNabb was sacked five times in a 39-10 loss that ended up being McNabb’s last start in Minnesota. He went 1-5 as a Viking.
Overall the Vikings won one time in Chicago between 2003 and 2014. They have been favored in four of the five games since 2014 and lost three.
Since 2000, the Vikings are 4-16 on the road against the Bears despite being favored 10 times. The Bears have beaten the spread 16 of 20 times.
The Bears haven’t completely had the Vikings’ number in the last 20 years since Minnesota’s record at home versus Chicago during the same time span is 14-6 (of course, one of those losses booted the Vikings from the playoffs in 2018).
Overall the Vikings’ road winning percentage excluding the Bears from 2000-2019 is only .399 but it’s .200 against Chicago. Yet of the 17 games the two teams played that weren’t in Week 1 or 2, the Bears only faced the Vikings with winning records entering the game three total times.
And the list of Chicago quarterbacks who have beaten Minnesota in the last 20 years is something. It goes like this: Jim Miller, Rex Grossman, Chad Hutchinson, Kyle Orton, Jay Cutler, Mitch Trubisky, Chase Daniel.
The win over the Vikings was one of three in Hutchinson’s career and his only victory during his time in Chicago. Likewise, Daniel has three career wins in his decade-long NFL career. Orton posted 48 points against the Vikings in 2008, a season in which he failed to clear 3,000 yards in 15 starts.
Cutler beat Brett Favre in 2009 despite being an 8.5-point underdog. Receiver Devin Aromashodu gained 150 of his total 298 yards in a 36-30 shootout win for Chicago in that game. If you’re wondering, yes, that was the contest that if the Vikings had won they would have been playing at home in the NFC Championship game in ‘09.
The sheer number of “what the…” factoids during these games is enough to make your head spin.
In 2002, Daunte Culpepper’s Vikings were leading by 10 with nine minutes remaining and Jim Miller led a furious comeback, scoring touchdowns on his final two drives and finishing with 297 yards passing, 198 of which went to receiver Marty Booker. Miller finished the season 2-6 as a starter and never played another game in the NFL.
In 2003, the Culpepper-led Vikings finished sixth in scoring. But when they traveled to Soldier Field, Minnesota managed their lowest point total of the year in a 13-10 loss to Rex Grossman, who went 13-for-30 that day.
The following year, the Vikings lost despite being 7-point favorites.
The saddest of losses came in 2011 when Donovan McNabb was sacked five times in a 39-10 loss that ended up being McNabb’s last start in Minnesota. He went 1-5 as a Viking.
Overall the Vikings won one time in Chicago between 2003 and 2014. They have been favored in four of the five games since 2014 and lost three.
The Vikings have played better in the last 20 years against the Packers at Lambeau, going 5-13-2 with a minus-123 deficit (they are minus-146 to Chicago). And the Packers had Favre/Rodgers not Hutchinson/Orton.
There can’t be a phycological element when we’re talking about teams that have had so many different players. It isn’t a long flight or time change either.
Maybe it’s just that 20 football games is a small sample size and lots of weird stuff can happen in a small same. Over the next 20 years the tables might turn. Does that give any Vikings fans more confidence about going into Chicago next year? Probably not.
There can’t be a phycological element when we’re talking about teams that have had so many different players. It isn’t a long flight or time change either.
Maybe it’s just that 20 football games is a small sample size and lots of weird stuff can happen in a small same. Over the next 20 years the tables might turn. Does that give any Vikings fans more confidence about going into Chicago next year? Probably not.
6-6 since 2014. 
... and neither is this Chris guy.