The Bears finally made good on general manager Ryan Poles’ mission to “take the North” last season with their first NFC North title since 2018, but they were far from dominant in the division.
The first step toward becoming a true championship contender is establishing themselves as the bully of the North. That starts with handling the Vikings, whom the Bears face Sunday in their home opener.
A little over a year ago, the Vikings spoiled coach Ben Johnson’s debut with a fourth-quarter rally, and the Bears followed by getting crushed in Detroit the next week. They were the only of the NFL’s eight division winners to finish with a losing record in the division at 2-4.
Both of those wins, by the way, were late escapes in which the Bears were losing in the final 30 seconds. They needed a long kick return to set up their walk-off field goal against the Vikings in Minneapolis in Week 11 and an onside kick recovery to force overtime at home against the Packers, when they won on quarterback Caleb Williams’ 46-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore.
Other divisions are more top-heavy than the North, such as the NFC West and its three contenders in the defending champion Seahawks, Rams and 49ers, but it’s the strongest from top to bottom.
The Packers and Lions have been consistently in the mix for the last few seasons, and while the Vikings have been up and down, they’ve never been a pushover under coach Kevin O’Connell.
It’s easy to forget that even amid their quarterback issues last season as former first-round pick J.J. McCarthy struggled, they still finished 9-8. They held their own by sweeping the Lions and split with the Packers and Bears.
Then, in a resounding message to anyone who had written them off this season, they hammered the Packers with 29 consecutive points at the end to beat them 39-22 last week.
The Vikings’ defensive strengths are well documented, and the chess match between Johnson and defensive coordinator Brian Flores is central to the game Sunday. Flores is an artist when it comes to blitzing and disguising, and he gave Williams and the Bears two vastly different looks last season.
But their offense is a concern, too, and that’s because O’Connell and the host of skill talent they’ve put in place. Anyone could step in and throw to four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
The Vikings will start journeyman Carson Wentz, on his sixth team in 11 seasons, because Kyler Murray is out with a concussion. Neither of them is particularly fearsome in a vacuum, but O’Connell has gotten by with less.
If anyone can bring out the best of them, it’s O’Connell. It also might be the Bears’ defense, which allowed an otherwise floundering Bryce Young to put up one of the best games of his career last week.
A reasonable goal for the Bears in the NFC North this season is to go 4-2, which would mean they need to sweep at least one of their rivals. It’s also going to be hard to do that if they can’t defend Soldier Field. So while it’s only Week 2 and it’s “only” the Vikings, this is an optimal time for the Bears to make a statement in the division.