Sunday: noon at U.S. Bank Stadium (Ch. 9, 100.3-FM)
Vikings scouting report: Chicago Bears
ABOUT THE BEARS
• Chicago (7-8) was eliminated from playoff contention after its Week 15 loss at Green Bay and tied its season-low in points during last week's 26-3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The 23-point loss was the most lopsided of head coach Matt Nagy's tenure in Chicago.
• QB Mitchell Trubisky's struggles continued against the Chiefs when he posted his sixth passer rating below 70. He completed 18 of 34 passes for 157 yards.
• The Bears defense, last year's No. 1-ranked group, still ranks fifth in points and eighth in yards given up this season. However, Chicago shelved injured DT Akiem Hicks (elbow) last week and could be without NT Eddie Goldman (concussion).
• Former Vikings return man Cordarrelle Patterson is one of the Bears' three Pro Bowlers. Patterson, a 2013 first-round pick, made two Pro Bowls with the Vikings. He leads all kick returners with 825 yards this season.
PLAYER FOCUS | WR ALLEN ROBINSON
• Two years recovered from a torn ACL, Robinson has reemerged as one of the NFL's most prolific receivers. The 26-year-old has a career-high 89 catches — ranking sixth — and is 13th among NFL receivers with 1,076 yards.
• Robinson, whose final year under contract is 2020, recently told the Chicago Sun-Times he'd like to one day be the Bears' all-time leading receiver.
• Bears coach Matt Nagy on Robinson: "Definition of true professional in the dictionary. His picture needs to be right beside that. He's a really special talent, does everything you ask. He's great for our young guys in terms of how you handle yourself in meetings, in the classroom, in practice and on game day."
• Vikings defensive coordinator George Edwards on defending Robinson: "He can take the top off it, and he's a great route runner, so we definitely got to pay a lot of attention to him this week."
COACH SPEAK | MATT NAGY
• The second year coach is 19-12 in the regular season with Chicago and 0-1 in the playoffs after winning the NFC North last year. The Bears may rest starters Sunday as Nagy said he'd like to "see some guys that maybe" he wouldn't play if the playoffs were still a possibility.
• The Bears dropped to 30th in points scored (ninth last year) and 29th in yardage (21st last year).
• On the offense: "It has been a frustrating year to say the least, really all in all for our team, but offensively we did not end up doing what we wanted to do. We just didn't produce enough points. That will be a big point of emphasis for us in the offseason."
• On Trubisky's development in his third NFL season: "We want to see constant growth, good decisionmaking, anticipatory throws, ball out on time and good footwork. That's what we've been working on all year long."
Andrew Krammer
about the writer
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.