The Chicago Bears (7-8) will face the Minnesota Vikings (10-5) in their season finale Sunday, and for many it’s a season that they can’t wait to come to an end.
Following the Super Bowl expectations ahead of the regular-season opener, the Bears have stumbled through their 2019 campaign, where the offense had one of its worst outputs in franchise history.
While the Bears aren’t playing for playoff contention, they’ll be looking to end things on a high note and look towards, hopefully, a much brighter 2020 season.
Here are my final four bold predictions for the Bears’ as they wrap their 2019 season against the Vikings:
1. Bears offense will hold Vikings defense to zero takeaways
There’s no defense that is forcing more turnovers in the past couple of games than the Vikings, who have garnered 10 takeaways in the last two games — seven against the Chargers and three against the Packers — which is four more than any other team in that same span. They’ve forced eight fumbles (recovered six of them) and have four interceptions in the past two weeks.
So the Bears offense definitely has its hands full as it prepares to face a Vikings defense that is peaking just ahead of its postseason berth. The Bears have turned the ball over three times in the past two games — all three of them coming against the Packers. Mitchell Trubisky tossed two interceptions (although one was a Hail Mary at the end of the first half) and David Montgomery lost a costly fumble.
The Bears are coming off a game where they didn’t turn the ball over against the Chiefs. Although we saw how well playing it safe worked out for Chicago.
2. Khalil Mack will record a strip-sack
Earlier this season this wouldn’t be considered a bold prediction, but given how Khalil Mack’s numbers have dipped after the first quarter of the season, you can consider it as bold. The last time the Bears played the Vikings — a convincing 16-6 defeat of their NFC North rivals — Mack had a 1.5 sacks, including a strip-sack of Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Mack isn’t happy with his performance this year — as you can imagine no one is with their own individual performance in a disappointing season. And following last Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, which Mack called “embarrassing,” you have to imagine pride will be at the forefront as Mack and the defense look to go out on a high note this season.
3. Mitchell Trubisky will have passer rating greater than 100
The problem with quarterback Mitchell Trubisky can be summed up with a single word: Inconsistency. He’s got the athleticism, the skills and all the potential, but he isn’t consistent as a decision-maker, and that’s been blatantly clear in a season where the offense has suffered as a whole.
Since posting passer ratings of 118.1 and 115.5 against the Lions and Cowboys in Weeks 13 and 14, Trubisky has posted two passer ratings of below 70 in losses to the Packers (64.5) and Chiefs (65.4).
While there’s no confidence that Trubisky can reverse the curse this week against a Vikings defense that is peaking at the right time, given everything that’s on the line for him as he heads into an important offseason, you have to imagine he’d like to go out on a high note.
4. Bears defense will force 2 turnovers
I’m giving this bold prediction one final try this season. As we know, takeaways have eluded the Bears defense like success has eluded the Bears offense. After registering 36 takeaways in 2018, the Bears managed just 16 this season with one game remaining.
The takeaways just haven’t been there this season, which is part of the reason for the Bears’ decline. Not that it’s the defense’s responsibility to carry the offense, but those takeaways helped the offense with short fields or in low-scoring affairs.
Given that I already predicted one of Chicago’s takeaways will come at the hands of Khalil Mack via strip-sack, I’m turning to the secondary for this second takeaway. While Kyle Fuller leads the Bears with three interceptions this season, he’s let too many others slip through his fingers. Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is second with two picks. So I don’t know who it’ll be, but I’m predicting someone in the Bears’ defensive backfield steps up in a big way in Sunday’s season finale.
