PLAYER NOTES
–G Kyle Long (foot) is practicing with the team and the intent is to activate him for Sunday’s game, barring any setbacks. Long padded up and practiced Wednesday and is in the middle of a 21-day window for evaluation for returning. He had a foot tendon injury Oct. 28 and has been on injured reserve. His return to the lineup would likely mean right guard Bryan Witzmann would return to the bench. Long made the Pro Bowl from 2013-15 before a series of injuries that cost him time over the past three seasons.
–S Eddie Jackson (ankle) is not practicing this week and didn’t practice or play last week. It’s unlikely he’d be ready to play against the Vikings and the Bears are hoping he’ll be healthy enough to take part in practices before their first playoff game.
–LB Aaron Lynch (elbow) didn’t play last week and remains day-to-day with an elbow injury suffered against the Green Bay Packers Dec. 16. He missed Wednesday’s practice. Lynch’s presence aids the Bears at stopping the run, and also to spell Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd.
–WR Allen Robinson II (ribs) suffered an injury in Sunday’s win and returned to finish the game. He didn’t practice Wednesday and will be monitored this week to see if he’s able to play against the Vikings.
–DT Bilal Nichols (knee) practiced Wednesday on a limited basis. He has been battling a knee injury throughout most of the season and regularly gets time off practice during the week. It’s usually on days when the Bears practice indoors on artificial turf, as they did Wednesday.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: LB Leonard Floyd. There’s no doubt the Bears’ third-year outside linebacker is coming on strong, with 15 tackles and four assists, and six tackles for loss in the last six games. In the last four games alone he has six hits on the quarterback after just five over the first 11 games, and has made three of his four sacks in the last four games as well. Floyd is taking better angles to scrambling quarterbacks and has also improved his tackling off the edge against the run since the Bears’ loss to the Giants. Actually, he didn’t play poorly in the Giants game, but just had a couple of breakdowns to pave the way to bigger runs. Playing with one healthy hand earlier this year did nothing to help Floyd, but the Bears also changed up his role on the outside more this season. When he was their chief outside pass rusher his role was fairly simple. With Khalil Mack on board, he’s now more aware of maintaining containment and playing off of rushing teammates. It seems they’ll never be able to add more upper body bulk and he probably will never justify the high place where he was drafted, but Floyd is proving a valuable asset on a top-five defense.
GAME PLAN: In their last game with Minnesota, the offense executed a lateral approach perfectly. They got the Vikings’ defense in a position where they couldn’t run downhill and attack. They were kept moving laterally, and then Bears running backs, receivers in the short game and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with scrambles, were all able to locate cutback areas to do damage. It was easier without Anthony Barr on the field against them, but Barr is healthy now and playing effectively. It’s a reason the Vikings have risen higher in league rankings than the Bears now on defense, to third overall. And those key shorter gains the Bears got after moving the defense laterally will be tougher to duplicate. Allen Robinson’s ability to occupy defenders’ attention in the secondary was also a key in the first game, but it’s possible he’ll miss this one so it can be expected the Vikings will throw blitz after blitz at Mitchell Trubisky. In fact, the Bears have to expect the Vikings to throw the book at them with their playoff lives on the line. Screens and quick outs to Anthony Miller, Tarik Cohen and Taylor Gabriel will be critical in this game. Another key will be running read-option with Trubisky, even though the Vikings were the team he was injured against last time while running. It’s a play the Seahawks used effectively against Minnesota. The ball has to come out fast and the Bears have to stay ahead of the chains.
Defensively, more blitzing up the middle early could be in order. The Bears did little of this in the first game with Minnesota, but Kirk Cousins has frozen at times in the face of big pass rushes. Then it seems to affect his play for several series. Stunting defensive lineman or blitzing Danny Trevathan could be sound approaches. The Bears can’t get too blitz-happy with their linebackers because of Dalvin Cook’s role in the Vikings’ offense. He has 17 catches over the past four games and was just fitting back into the offense after an injury in the Vikings’ earlier loss to the Bears. Any blitzing should come early and in situations when the Vikings can’t burn them too badly with a screen or flip to a back in the flat.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Bears ILB Roquan Smith, who had a sack and nine tackles against San Francisco last week, vs. Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph, who had a season-high nine catches for 122 yards last week against Detroit. Rudolph going off against Detroit last week was the worst possible thing for the Bears to see because he has a history of doing well against them, including his career high of 11 catches. The Bears had Smith or Adrian Amos on Rudolph in much of the last meeting and he had just five targets, and only two catches for 13 yards.
–Bears OLB Khalil Mack, who had a sack, forced fumble and recovery last time against the Vikings, vs. LT Reilly Reiff, who has fought through injuries this season. Mack was relatively quiet last week, coming up a half-step short of sacks a few times. Against the Vikings, he was in Kirk Cousins’ face constantly. The key for Reiff here is not the pass blocking but the running game. The Vikings have run the ball better and more often the last two games and it has made a difference in slowing the pass rush. They’ll need to do this again to help set up play-action passes and assist Reiff.
–Bears RB Tarik Cohen, who had 12 rushing yards and a 7-yard catch last week, vs. Vikings DB Mackensie Alexander, who had two passes defensed in the last game with the Bears. Teams no longer try matching linebackers up on Cohen. That stopped long ago. And some strong safeties will not be allowed to try it. Look for Alexander to get the task because Cohen frequently lines up in the slot, anyway. Cohen is coming off one of his quietest games of the season as defenses are keying on him as if he were a top-of-the-line receiver. The Bears use him with jet action or straight out of the slot when he’s not lined up in the backfield next to Mitchell Trubisky. Alexander has had two passes defensed in each of his team’s last two games.
