Vikings vs. Bears Pick & Predictions: Are the Rested Bears the Play?

Minnesota Vikings (1-4 SU, 1-3-1 ATS) at Chicago Bears (1-4, 1-3-1)

When: 1 pm ET Sunday, Oct. 15

Where: Soldier Field

TV: Fox

NFL Betting Odds:

Point Spread: Minn -2.5 / Chic +2.5 (Be sure you’re betting the best parlay odds!)

Moneyline: Min -140 / Chi +120

Total: 45

After picking up their first win of the season, the Bears go looking for more when they host the rival Vikings for an NFC North grudge match Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field.

Chicago is coming off its best performance of the season, a 40-point outburst against Washington. Minnesota, on the other hand, is coming off another close loss.

NFL Betting Lines

The Week 6 NFL betting market opened Minnesota as a 3.5-point divisional road favorite for Sunday, with an over/under of right around 49. Early betting action then dipped that spread one large point to 2.5 and dropped that total four points to 45.

Vikings Betting Preview

Minnesota dropped to 1-4 on the season with a 27-20 home loss to Kansas City last Sunday. The Vikings basically handed the Chiefs the first seven points of the game but battled back to take a 13-13 tie into the half. Minnesota then gave up the first 14 points of the second half, rallied to reach Hail Mary territory right at the end but took a sack as time ran out.

The Vikings also came up short ATS as 3.5-point home dogs.

Minnesota played Kansas City almost totally even on the stat sheet, except for an early turnover, the only one of the game, that resulted in a short field and a Chiefs touchdown.

After winning all those close games last season, the Vikings now own four one-score losses this season.

On top of losing last Sunday’s game, Minnesota also lost WR Justin Jefferson to a pulled hamstring.

Bears Betting Preview

Meanwhile, Chicago just picked up its first victory of this season, a 40-20 decision at Washington last Thursday night. The Bears hit the board the first five times they touched the ball, led 27-3 at the half, allowed the Commanders to get within 30-20 early in the fourth quarter but tacked on 10 points from there to secure the W.

Chicago, with help from four long plays from scrimmage, out-gained Washington 451-388. And a huge chunk of the yardage the Bears defense gave up came in prevent mode. Chicago also ran the ball for 178 yards, 121 of those by guys not named Fields.

The Bears opened this season with losses to Green Bay, Tampa Bay, and Kansas City, and there wasn’t much silver lining in any of those games. Chicago then blew a 28-3 lead on Denver and lost 31-28.

Vikings-Bears Recent History

Minnesota owns a four-game winning streak on Chicago, going 3-1 ATS along the way. Last year the Vikings swept two games from the Bears by scores of 29-22 and 29-13. Chicago covered that first meeting at +10 while Minnesota covered the second meeting at -6.5.

The Vikings out-gained the Bears in both those games by well over 100 yards.

NFL Betting Trends

Home dogs are 11-22 SU, 14-17 ATS in the NFL this season.

Totals Report

The unders are 4-1 in Vikings games this season, which are averaging 46 total points.

The overs are 5-0 in Bears games this season, which are averaging 54 points.

The unders are 43-35 in the NFL this season.

Free NFL Betting Pick

Chicago is coming off a great performance last week but this is still a team with questions on offense and a 29th-ranked defense. We consider the Bears good candidates for a regression this week. Minnesota, meanwhile, is actually out-gaining opponents this season by 20 yards per game, a statistic more in line with a 3-2 team, rather than one that’s 1-4. If they can just limit the turnover, the Vikings might be all-right. They won’t have Jefferson, but we still like Minnesota for Sunday.