NFC North Showdown: Chicago Bears host the Minnesota Vikings

The Chicago Bears will get their first taste of their own division this Sunday as they host the Adrian Peterson and his Minnesota Vikings in a Black and Blue showdown.

Right now the Chicago Bears are tied with the Detroit Lions for first place after Week 1. But last week they showed that a lot of things on both sides of the ball need to be worked on. Their offensive line didn’t give up a sack all game, but definitely need to work on the run game.

Matt Forte only had 50 yards rushing on 19 attempts on Sunday’s game against a tough Cincinnati Bengals front-line. He had a couple carries where he picked up a good chunk of yardage but only averaged 2.6 yards a carry with one touchdown. Actually his longest run of the game was only nine yards and I believe that was the play late in the fourth quarter when they decided to go for it on fourth and inches.

The defense gave up a lot of big plays against a young and dangerous offense. Their main problem was containing A.J. Green who had over 160 yards receiving and two touchdowns. They had some key plays that kept them in the game, but their focus on Sunday needs to be shutting down Minnesota’s offense completely.

I know that may be a long shot since Adrian Peterson is still running like the ball as if he was only 100 yards away from the single-season rushing record. Peterson started off the year with a bang after picking up a 78 yard touchdown with his first carry of the season. He was stopped after that with a game total of 93 yards on 18 attempts, but if you give this man a small opening he has the skill and determination to turn it into six points.

Right now the main focus of this game is of course Adrian Peterson. Charles Tillman held things down on the defensive side with two interceptions even he gave up a couple big plays including a pass interference call that gave the Bengals 30+ yards.

If the Chicago Bears hope to get the win against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, they need to stop Adrian Peterson and open up their own run game. Opening up your own run game will give Cutler to pick up chunks of yardage with his arm.

Both Jay Cutler and Christian Ponder are right next to each other when it comes to passing stats after Week 1.

Cutler stands at 21 of 33 attempts with 242 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. An interception that was thrown right at Cincinnati’s linebacker.

Ponder sits behind Cutler, completing 18 of 28 attempts with 236 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

Cutler is in a group of four quarterbacks who weren’t sacked last week. Matthew Stafford, Sam Bradford and E.J. Manuel are on that short list.

Christian Ponder was sacked three times against Detroit.