VikesCentric: Vikings aim to flip the script in Chicago

The Chicago Bears are a divisional rival of the Minnesota Vikings – natural enemies and familiar foes. Vikings fans surely recognize, then, that rarely have the Bears appeared as vulnerable as they have in recent weeks. Before dismissively putting Sunday's game in the win column for the Purple, however, check your history.

It's easy to look at the current state of the Chicago Bears and assume they will be pushovers for the Vikings on Sunday. They've dropped below the Vikings in the NFC North at 3-6 thanks to a three-game losing streak, including consecutive blowout losses to the Patriots and Packers sandwiching their bye week.

Of course, the Patriots and Packers are pretty good teams; they both defeated the Vikings handily this season, too. Losing road games against such quality competition on the road isn't necessarily a big deal. However, the way in which Chicago lost those games is a big deal. The Packers and Patriots beat the Bears by a combined score of 106-37. Giving up 50 points is bad. Doing it two weeks in a row is really bad.

By comparison, the Vikings lost to the Patriots and Packers by a combined score of 72-17. That's not good, either. But it's been proven that a 55-point gap isn't as awful as a 69-point gap. It's science.

The Bad News Bears are in the throes of chaos and disorder with a dash of dysfunction thrown in for good measure. Meanwhile, head coach Marc Trestman finds himself on the hot seat. Typically at this time of year a heated seat would be a good thing. Not so much in this case.

Not only are they losing on the road to good teams, they're also losing at home… to everyone. Check the schedule: the Bears are 0-3 at home this season with losses to the Dolphins, Packers and Bills. I don't know what's more amazing about that – the fact the Bears have gone winless at home or the fact that they have only had three home games versus six road games this season. Soldier Field has the worst playing surface in the NFL. Why the geniuses in the NFL's schedule-making office would want to put off five of their eight home games until the final seven weeks of the season when the field conditions are at their worst is beyond me.

I'll save further exploration of that tangent for another time.

So let's keep the Vikings' good times rolling, right? Back to .500 at 5-5 for the Vikings with Wild Card hopes still intact.

Not so fast.

Check your history books, or more accurately: check your Vikings vs. Bears game-by-game log. Go back and see how often the Vikings have won in Chicago in recent years.

I'll save you the trouble; the Vikings have won once in their last 13 trips to Soldier Field. Their lone win in Chicago since 2000 was back in 2007.

Now, I know every team is different, every season is different. This year's Vikings team looks quite a bit different from last year's team and looks very different from the teams that played in Chicago three or four years ago. Teddy Bridgewater, Jerick McKinnon and Anthony Barr weren't on the team that team that lost in Chicago last year. Neither were Captain Munnerlyn or Linval Joseph. And Mike Zimmer and Norv Turner weren't a part of it either.

All I'm saying is don't get ahead of yourselves, Vikings fans.

You know the Vikings aren't looking past the Bears. They don't exactly have laurels to rest on at 4-5. Even privately you can bet they aren't counting this game as a win – not even after watching the Bears melt down on Sunday night at Lambeau Field.

The Vegas odds-makers are favoring the no good, horrible, very bad Bears team and the historical trend suggests loud and clear this should be a loss for the Vikings.

And now for the last-second positive spin… let's flip the script.

Zimmer and Turner have had two weeks to prepare the Vikes for this game. Turn that negative historical outlook around. If the Vikings do manage to go into Chicago and snap the losing streak and pull back to .500 with three home games in a row coming up, there's no telling what kind of lift it could provide the team.

Bo Mitchell is the Vice President of Content at SportsData, head writer at VikingsJournal.com, co-host of the Fantasy Football Pants Party at 1500ESPN.com and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.