Chicago Bears: The Minnesota Vikings dilemma

The Chicago Bears have an interesting dilemma against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

To play, or not to play — that is the question for the Chicago Bears. Though the question is not “whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” but whether tis nobler to rest the starters for their NFC Wild Card Playoff matchup.

Here’s the rub — the Bears still theoretically have a lot to play for in Sunday’s matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.

First, they still have a shot (albeit a longshot) to secure the No. 2 overall seed in the NFC. That would be not only a tremendous accomplishment but a huge boon to their playoff chances, as it would mean they would only have to play, at most, one road game to make the Super Bowl.

However, this is unlikely as not only do the Bears have to beat the Vikings on the road (very possible) but the Los Angeles Rams have to lose to the San Francisco 49ers at home. While the 49ers gave the Bears a game on Sunday, they are a much different team on the road where they are 0-7. Not impossible, but unlikely.

There is another reason why the Bears may want to put their foot on the accelerator Sunday. Since both the Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles won, if the Bears beat the Vikings and the Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, the Eagles would secure the No. 6 seed and knock the Vikings out of the playoffs.

So the question becomes, would the Bears rather face the Vikings for a third time in the first round of the playoffs, or take on an Eagles squad that seems to be rekindling some of that magic it had last year now that Nick Foles is back under center. They feel like a team playing loose and with house money, and could be a very dangerous opponent.  The Vikings, on the other hand, have struggled mightily on offense this year and Kirk Cousins is not good against teams with winning records in his career.

Finally, the last reason the Bears may want to stay aggressive is to stay sharp. Ideally, you want to be playing your best football heading into the playoffs. The Bears seem to be doing that but taking the entire week off to rest your starters could lead to rust. We saw what Mitch Trubisky looked like after missing a few weeks and he has admitted he needs repetitions.

Even still, if that is the Bears primary objective (along with staying healthy) then perhaps it makes sense to play the starters for a half and keep an eye on the scoreboard. If the Rams look like they are comfortably ahead, then Matt Nagy can remove the starters. If not, he can stay aggressive.

In either case, the team must be fully committed to their decision. If they play the starters and they try to go at half-speed, that’s how injuries will happen. Again, this is another difficult decision for coach Nagy, but one the Bears will gladly take as it means they are playing meaningful football in December.