4 bold predictions for Bears’ Week 17 matchup vs. Vikings

Can the Bears offense slow down a hungry Vikings defense? Will Khalil Mack deliver a repeat performance? My final bold predictions for 2019.

The Chicago Bears (7-8) will face the Minnesota Vikings (10-5) in their season finale Sunday, and for many it’s a season that they can’t wait to come to an end.

Following the Super Bowl expectations ahead of the regular-season opener, the Bears have stumbled through their 2019 campaign, where the offense had one of its worst outputs in franchise history.

While the Bears aren’t playing for playoff contention, they’ll be looking to end things on a high note and look towards, hopefully, a much brighter 2020 season.

Here are my final four bold predictions for the Bears’ as they wrap their 2019 season against the Vikings:

1. Bears offense will hold Vikings defense to zero takeaways

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

There’s no defense that is forcing more turnovers in the past couple of games than the Vikings, who have garnered 10 takeaways in the last two games — seven against the Chargers and three against the Packers — which is four more than any other team in that same span. They’ve forced eight fumbles (recovered six of them) and have four interceptions in the past two weeks.

So the Bears offense definitely has its hands full as it prepares to face a Vikings defense that is peaking just ahead of its postseason berth. The Bears have turned the ball over three times in the past two games — all three of them coming against the Packers. Mitchell Trubisky tossed two interceptions (although one was a Hail Mary at the end of the first half) and David Montgomery lost a costly fumble.

The Bears are coming off a game where they didn’t turn the ball over against the Chiefs. Although we saw how well playing it safe worked out for Chicago.