The Vikings and Bears are playing for pride and nothing more this weekend.  The Vikings snapped a six game losing streak last weekend when they beat the Redskins 33-26 in Washington.  The Bears have now lost five games in a row as they have looked horrible since Jay Cutler broke his thumb on his throwing hand.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Vikings have the ball:  The Vikings are without Adrian Peterson (torn ACL) for this game, but they are still in good shape at RB with Toby Gerhart.  Gerhart will likely have a heavy workload against a Bears’ D that is giving up 97.5 yards rushing per game and 4.1 yards per carry.  The Vikings hope to get a good running game going, so that the Bears’ pass rush will have to slow down a bit and give Christian Ponder time to throw the ball.  The Bears are giving up 256.2 yards passing per game, so Christian Ponder could be effective throwing the ball in this game.  His top target will likely be Percy Harvin, but the Vikings will need some of their other WRs and TEs to step up.

When the Bears have the ball:  The Bears are likely going to come out running the ball with Kahlil Bell, who broke out with a big game against the Packers last weekend.  The Vikings are only giving up 3.9 yards per carry so far this year, so they should be able to handle slowing down Bell.  Josh McCown is getting the start at QB, but the Bears have had a lot of injuries to their WRs.  Roy Williams will likely be his top target, but he doesn’t scare the Vikings too much at this point in his career.

PREDICTION:  VIKINGS 17, BEARS 16

29-year old DE Jared Allen will be the lone representative of the Minnesota Vikings in the Pro Bowl.  Allen has played in 15 games for the Vikings so far this year and he has 61 tackles, 18.5 sacks, 4 tackles for a loss, 4 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 3 passes defensed and 1 interception.  Allen has now played in 124 games in his first 8 years in the NFL and he has 452 tackles, 101.5 sacks, 53 tackles for a loss, 26 forced fumbles, 16 fumble recoveries, 42 passes defensed and 5 interceptions (one returned for a TD).  Allen is one of the best defensive players on the planet, enough said.

The Vikings have placed 34-year old OG Steve Hutchinson on the Injured Reserve List due to a nasty concussion.  Hutchinson played in 14 games (all starts) for the Vikings this year.  He has now played in 89 games (all starts) in his first six years with the Vikings.  It will be interesting to see if the Vikings bring back Hutchinson for next season, as his play is starting to slip some.

The Vikings have waived 23-year old TE Allen Reisner.  Reisner played in 6 games for the Vikings this year and he caught 1 pass for 5 yards.  He also had 1 tackle.  The Vikings have solid depth at TE with Visanthe Shiancoe and Kyle Rudolph, so they shouldn’t miss Reisner at all the rest of the season.

24-year old RB Toby Gerhart is going to have his time to shine for the Vikings, starting this weekend against the Bears.  Gerhart has played in 15 games for the Vikings so far this year and he has carried the ball 94 times for 464 yards (4.9 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 22 passes for 187 yards (8.5 avg) with 3 TD grabs so far this year.  Gerhart has now played in 30 games in his first two years with the Vikings in which he has carried the ball 175 times for 786 yards (4.5 ypc) with 2 TD runs and he has also caught 43 passes for 354 yards (8.2 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Gerhart will take over as the Vikings’ #1 RB until Adrian Peterson is ready to return sometime next year.

The Vikings have lost 26-year old Adrian Peterson for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL and MCL.  Peterson played in 12 games for the Vikings this year and he carried the ball 208 times for 970 yards (4.7 ypc) with 12 TD runs.  He also caught 18 passes for 139 yards (7.7 avg) with 1 TD grab this year.  Peterson has now played in 73 games in his first five years with the Vikings and he has carried the ball 1,406 times for 6,752 yards (4.8 ypc) with 64 TD carries.  Peterson has also caught 137 passes for 1,309 yards (9.6 avg) with 3 TD grabs in his career with the Vikings so far.  He likely won’t be ready for the start of the 2012 season.

The Vikings got battered physically in this game as they lost QB Chrisitan Ponder (concussion) and RB Adrian Peterson (torn ACL in this game).  That is when QB Joe Webb and RB Toby Gerhart took over this game.  Ponder completed 8 of 13 passes for 68 yards without a TD pass or INT.  He also carried the ball 4 times for 20 yards (5.0 ypc) in this game.  Joe Webb replaced him and he was electric.  Webb completed 4 of 5 passes for 84 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 INTs.  He also carried the ball 5 times for 34 yards (6.8 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Toby Gerhart led the way on the ground with an amazing 109 yards rushing on 11 carries (9.9 ypc).  Adrian Peterson carried the ball 12 times for 38 yards (3.2 ypc) with 1 TD run and he also caught 2 passes for 14 yards (7.0 avg) in this game.  WR Percy Harvin led the way in the passing game with 5 catches for 65 yards (13.0 avg) with 1 TD grab and he also carried the ball 4 times for 39 yards (9.8 ypc).  TE Kyle Rudolph pitched in with 2 catches for 23 yards (11.5 avg) and a TD grab.  The Vikings finished up with 241 yards rushing on 38 carries (6.3 ypc) and they also completed 12 of 18 passes (66.7%) for 148 yards as they had possession of the ball for 29:34.

The defense didn’t play too well for the Vikings though.  LBs Chad Greenway (16 tackles and 1 pass defensed) and E.J. Henderson (15 tackles) led the way on D for the Vikings in this game. Safety Mistral Raymond (6 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 interception) and DE Brian Robison (3 tackles, 1 sack and 1 fumble recovery) also had big games for the Vikings.  The Redskins finished up with 141 yards rushing on 24 carries (5.9 ypc) and they also completed 26 of 41 passes (63.4%) for 256 yards.  The Vikings are now 3-12 on the season.

The Vikings have lost six games in a row, as they have been awful lately.  The Redskins have won two of their last four games, as they have been playing decent football lately.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Vikings have the ball:  The Vikings would like to be more balanced than usual tomorrow  against the Redskins.  Adrian Peterson will likely get around 20 carries against a Redskins’ D that is giving up 112.0 yards rushing per game and 4.1 yards per carry.  The Vikings need Peterson to have a good game to slow the Redskins’ pass rush down a little bit.  If Christian Ponder has time to throw the ball, he should have some success through the air.  The Vikings hope to get the ball in Percy Harvin’s hands a lot tomorrow as he is a big play just waiting to happen.

When the Redskins have the ball:  Rookie RB Roy Helu is banged up a little bit, so look for the Redskins to watch his workload.  That will be easy this weekend, because the Redskins are going to throw the ball a lot in his game.  Rex Grossman will likely get rushed a lot in this game as the Vikings have 40 sacks already this year (DE Jared Allen has 17.5 of them), but with his big arm he should have no problem connecting on some passes down the field.  WRs Jabar Gaffney, Santana Moss and Donte Stallworth are likely going to give the Vikings’ secondary fits.  Opposing QBs have a 110.8 Rating against the Vikings so far this year.

PREDICTION:  REDSKINS 27, VIKINGS 16

The Vikings never had a chance today against the Saints, who blew them way.  Christian Ponder completed 14 of 31 passes for 120 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 34 yards (11.3 ypc) in this game.  Joe Webb threw 1 incomplete pass today.  Adrian Peterson led the way on the ground for the Vikings in this game with 60 yards rushing on 12 carries (5.0 ypc).  Toby Gerhart pitched in with 2 carries for 12 yards (6.0 ypc) and he also led the way in the passing game for the Vikings with 4 grabs for 46 yards (11.5 avg) with 2 TDs.  The Vikings finished up with 105 yards rushing on 18 carries (5.8 ypc) and they also completed 14 of 32 passes (43.8%) for 102 yards as they had possession of the ball for 21:11.

The defense was awful today for the Vikings.  LB E.J. Henderson (11 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 QB hit), LB Chad Greenway (10 tackles), safety Jamarca Sanford (9 tackles) and LB Erin Henderson (9 tackles) led the way on D for the Vikings today.  DE Everson Griffen and safety Mistral Raymond pitched in with 1 fumble recovery each for the Vikings.  The Saints finished up with 161 yards rushing on 38 carries (4.2 ypc) and they also completed 32 of 41 passes (78%) for 412 yards.  The Vikings are now 2-12 on the season.

The Vikings have lost five games in a row, but the last two of them have been close games.  The Saints have won five games in a row and they are rolling when they get to play inside.  The Saints are trying to get the #2 seed in the NFL Playoffs, so they aren’t going to overlook the Vikings this weekend.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Vikings have the ball:  The Vikings are likely going to try to run the ball more than usual with Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart against a Saints’ D that is allowing 4.9 yards per carry and 110.3 rushing yards per game so far this year.  The Vikings should try to play keepaway with the running game, because they aren’t going to win a shootout with the Saints.  The Vikings will try to get the ball in WR Percy Harvin’s hands as much has possible in this game as he is a gamebreaker for the Vikings.  The Vikings will have to give Christian Ponder time to throw the ball, or he’s going to be throwing it to the Saints’ DBs this weekend.

When the Saints have the ball:  The Saints are going to bomb away at a Vikings’ D that is allowing 248.8 yards passing per game and opposing QBs have a Rating of 107.1 against the Vikings so far this year.  Drew Brees is going to have a field day throwing the ball this weekend if DE Jared Allen (17.5 sacks) and the rest of the Vikings get a lot of pressure on him.  The Vikings’ secondary is going to have mis-matches against Marques Colston, Jimmy Graham, Robert Meachem, Lance Moore, Devery Henderson and Darren Sproles.  The Vikings’ front seven is going to have to deal with RBs Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory.

PREDICTION:  SAINTS 33, VIKINGS 20