The Vikings slept walked through the first half as they were down 16-0 before waking up in the third quarter.  The Vikings outscored the Bears 30-14 in the second half to get to O.T. where they lost.  Brett Favre was outstanding in this game completing 26 of 40 passes for 321 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 INTs.  Adrian Peterson led the way on the ground with 94 yards on 24 carries (3.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs and he also caught 3 passes for 43 yards (14.3 avg).  But, A.P. also lost a fumble in O.T. that set up the Bears for the game winning TD pass.  Chester Taylor pitched in with 29 yards rushing on 8 carries (3.6 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 26 yards (13.0 avg).  Bernard Berrian (3 rec, 58 yards), Sidney Rice (6 rec, 56 yards, TD) and Visanthe Shiancoe (4 rec, 40 yards, TD) all had decent games for the Vikings in the passing game last night.  The Vikings finished up with 423 total yards on offense (123 rushing, 300 passing) in this game.

The defense was awful last night for the Vikings.  Safety Madieu Williams (9 tackles) and LB Chad Greenway (9 tackles) were the busiest players on D for the Vikes last night.  CB Cedric Griffin also made some plays with 5 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 INT.  The Bears finished up with 363 total yards on offense (105 rushing, 258 passing) in this game.  The Vikings are now 11-4 on the season as this was a game they could not afford to lose.

The Vikings can make their move tonight as they can still gain the #1 seed in the NFC.  The Bears are unlikely to put up much of a fight tonight as the Vikings punished them 36-10 just four weeks ago in Minnesota.  The Vikings will likely look to kill the Bears will early in this football game with the running game led by Adrian Peterson.  The Bears are allowing 128.5 yards rushing per game and 4.4 yards per carry this season so A.P. could be in line for a huge game tonight.  The Vikings should also get Brett Favre back more involved in the offense tonight. 

The Bears’ offense scares no one so the Vkings’ D should have a field day tonight.  The pass rush should be able to force Jay Cutler into a few bad decisions resulting in turnovers.  The Vikings will likely key on stopping the Bears’ passing attack because there running game has been weak all year long.  Matt Forte has been a huge disappointment for them this season and he won’t do much against the Vikings tonight. 

PREDICTION:  VIKINGS 30, BEARS 10

24-year old DE Ray Edwards is having a solid season playing opposite of Jared Allen.  Edwards has played in 14 games for the Vikings this season and he has made 48 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 2 passes defensed.  The Vikings need Edwards to keep up the good work because the Vikings’ pass rush is giving opposing teams a lot of fits this season.

23-year old Sidney Rice looked like he was sleepwalking during his first two years with the Vikings.  He played in 26 games in those two years catching 46 passes for 537 yards (11.7 avg) with 8 TD grabs.  But now, Rice is Brett Favre’s favorite target in the passing game and he could get him a invite to the Pro Bowl.  Rice has played in 14 games this season for the Vikings and he has caught 71 passes for 1,144 yards (16.1 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Rice should be a good receiver for a long time in this league and Brett Favre deserves the credit for bringing out the best in him.

It’s amazing to me that Coach Childress considered benching Brett Favre at halftime vs. the Panthers last week with the team winning 7-6.  Does he really think that Tarvaris Jackson would have given them a better chance of beating the Panthers last week?  If that is so, do the Vikings really want to keep a coach that thinks that way?  After all, Brett Favre has completed 312 of 460 passes (67.8%) for 3,565 yards with 27 TD passes and 7 INTs (104.1 QB Rating) so far this season.  Tarvaris Jackson has completed 10 of 15 passes (66.7%) for 159 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs (124.0 QB Rating) in his limited playing time this season.  Brad Childress better get his head out of his butt.

The Minnesota Vikings (11-3) had their worst game of the season by far, losing to the Carolina Panthers (6-8) by 19 points.  Brett Favre played terrible, but he got very little protection from his offensive line.  Favre and head coach Brad Childress got into a “heated discussion” in the third quarter, as Childress wanted to bench Favre and protect him from all the hits he was taking.  Being the fierce competitor he is, Favre was having none of that and kept himself in the game.  It wasn’t much help though and Favre finished with 224 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 1 interception on 17/27 passes.  Panthers DE Julius Peppers was getting to Favre all night and helped the Panthers sack him four times.  Adrian Peterson didn’t give Favre much help running the ball either, rushing for only 35 yards on 12 carries.  He did have a touchdown along with 3 catches for 73 yards, but the Vikings needed Peterson to have a big running day with the passing game struggling so much.

The Vikings’ defense played very solid for three quarters, but they collapsed in the fourth quarter and gave up three touchdowns.  They let Panthers’ quarterback Matt Moore throw for 299 yards and 3 touchdowns on 21/33 passes.  They could not keep wide-receiver Steve Smith in check, with Smith having his best game of the season.  He caught 9 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown.  They also failed at stopping Panthers’ running back Jonathon Stewart, who rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.  This was an ugly one for the Vikings, but it didn’t matter too much as they had already clinched the NFC North before the game with the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Green Bay Packers earlier in the day.

Back-up linebacker Erin Henderson has been suspended by the NFL for four games for violating league policy concerning performance enhancing drugs.  Henderson has played in only 2 games for the Vikings this season and he has 4 tackles.  The Vikings won’t miss Henderson as he hasn’t played much this season.

The Minnesota Vikings (11-2) let Adrian Peterson carry the load in their win over the Cincinnati Bengals (9-4) on Sunday.  He ran the ball 26 times for 97 yards and 2 touchdowns, helping the Vikings control the flow of the game.  The Vikings needed a strong game from Peterson, as Brett Favre had another off game.  He only passed for 192 yards, finishing with 1 touchdown and 1 interception on 17/30 passes.  The Vikings also got three field goals from Ryan Longwell, all of them coming in the second quarter, which helped the Vikings score the most points any opponent has scored against the Bengals this season.

The defense played great in this one, shutting down the Bengals passing game.  Bengals’ quarterback Carson Palmer threw for a season low 94 yards on 15/25 passes.  He did throw one touchdown pass to Chad Ochocinco, but they mostly shut down that connection.  Ochocinco only had 3 catches for 27 yards.  Cedric Benson rushed for 96 yards on 16 carries, but the Vikings kept him out of the endzone.  This was a good win for the Vikings after coming off that disappointing loss to the Cardinals.

The Minnesota Vikings (10-2) are hosting the Cincinnati Bengals (9-3) Sunday and it should be a good football game.  The Vikings are coming off a tough loss to the Arizona Cardinals where Brett Favre finally looked human and threw two interceptions.  The Bengals have been winning games lately, but the games have been pretty close considering the opponents were such teams as Detroit and Cleveland.  The Bengals do have a dangerous offense though, with Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco always a threat for a big play and Cedric Benson running the ball well.  The Vikings do a great job pressuring quarterbacks though, and when Palmer is pressured a lot he tends to throw some interceptions.  They will need to slow down Benson though, because the Bengals run the ball a lot.

The Vikings offense is going up against a pretty strong defense.  The Bengals defense holds teams to 82 rushing yards and 212 passing yards on average.  They have not gone up against a QB-RB combination like Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson though.  Both need to make sure they don’t turn the ball over though, as Peterson has fumbled way too many times this year and Favre is coming off a two interception game.  I think the Vikings will find a lot of success though as they are at home, so they should win.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Cincinnati Bengals 23, Minnesota Vikings 30

The Vikings have lost 29-year old starting linebacker E.J. Henderson for the season due to a broken femur.  Henderson played in 12 games for the Vikings this season and he made 83 tackles, had 6 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks and he defensed 1 pass.  The Vikings will miss Henderson big time as he was the teams’ leading tackler at the time of his injury.  24-year old rookie Jasper Brinkley will replace Henderson in the starting line-up.  Brinkley was a fifth round pick out of South Carolina in last April’s NFL Draft.  He has played in 12 games for the Vikings this season and he has made 10 tackles this season.  It will be interesting to see if Brinkley can handle the pressure of replacing a player like Henderson.