Since the NFL realigned to an eight-division format before the 2002 season, few venues have been more unkind than Soldier Field to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings have a 3-14 mark in Chicago over those 17 games (one of which was played in Champaign, Ill.). Only Detroit’s 3-14 road mark in Green Bay can equal Minnesota for futility in a divisional opponent’s stadium out of all NFC teams.
(Meanwhile, the New England Patriots haven’t lost more than three times at home to any of their three divisional foes since 2002.)
When the Vikings have managed to beat the Bears, it’s gone down to the wire. In 2007, the one time Minnesota knocked off Chicago in the Brad Childress Era, they needed 224 yards and three touchdowns from rookie Adrian Peterson, as well as a 55-yard field goal from Ryan Longwell on the game’s final play to win. In 2015 and 2017 under Mike Zimmer, the eventual NFC North champion Vikings needed game-winning field goals from Blair Walsh and Kai Forbath to win by 23-20 and 20-17 scores. If not for some late kicking heroics, Minnesota’s road losing streak at Chicago could be ongoing.
To find a comfortable Vikings win at Soldier Field, you’d have to go back to the year 2000 when the Vikings won 28-16 behind Robert Smith’s 170 rushing yards.
Maybe it’s the wind that wreaks havoc on special teams. Maybe it’s the field surface that is notoriously slippery. But Minnesota’s historic struggles in the Windy City have been anywhere from baffling to heartbreaking to downright predictable.
Zimmer, however, prefers to think about the more recent meetings. His Vikings are 2-2 in their last four at Chicago. Zimmer isn’t spooked, even if the fans are.
“I don’t know,” said Zimmer when asked what makes Chicago a tough place to play. “That’s what everybody told me when I got here, then we won some games. I guess if you turn the ball over and you create penalties and you do dumb things it’s a pretty hard place to play. I think they’ve lost their last two at home.”
The latter statement is true. Chicago lost last year’s Wild Card playoff game on Cody Parkey’s double-doink missed field goal after going 7-1 at home in 2018. They then dropped their opener to Green Bay 10-3 to open the season on Sept. 5.
Zimmer is correct in downplaying the horrific track record since few of his current players took part in devastating losses of yore. Like the 13-10 loss in 2003 when Daunte Culpepper threw a red zone interception in the closing seconds to hurt Minnesota’s playoff hopes. Or the 36-30 overtime loss that spoiled Brett Favre’s 17-point comeback in 2009 when Jay Cutler threw a game-winning touchdown to Devin Aromashodu in overtime following Adrian Peterson’s fumble.
A lot of the Vikings teams that have gone into Soldier Field and lost have been more talented than the Bears. In 10 of the last 17 seasons, the Vikings finished with a better record than Chicago, but in seven of those years they lost. In four seasons the Bears had a sub-.500 record at home, but they still beat the Vikings. Take 2014, for example, when they only won two home games but defeated Teddy Bridgewater’s Vikings 21-13. Or in 2016 when they posted a 3-5 home mark but dominated the Vikings 20-10 in Norv Turner’s final game as coordinator (also the game where Zimmer reportedly injured his retina).
Slow starts have usually plagued the Vikings at Soldier Field. Last year in their 25-20 loss they spotted the Bears a 14-0 lead and didn’t score until late in the third quarter. Going back further, Minnesota hasn’t scored the first points in Chicago since Blair Walsh’s opening field goal in 2014. That’s a tough recipe against one of the league’s best defenses that forced five turnovers on Monday night against the Washington Redskins after jumping out to a 28-0 lead.
Kirk Cousins, who threw two interceptions at Chicago last year including a crushing pick six, talked Wednesday about the importance of playing smart, protecting the football and not panicking if the Vikings fall behind early. In their last road game at Green Bay, the Vikings climbed back from a 21-0 deficit and made a game of it in the fourth quarter.
“It’s a four-quarter fight,” said Cousins, who grew up in the Chicago area. “If we’re there in the fourth quarter and we have a chance to win the game that’s really what you want. If that means you have to concede something in the first quarter, second quarter then so be it. You play smart. Doesn’t mean you play scared, doesn’t mean you play conservative, but you play smart, and we have to attack too. We can’t sit back and expect a road win to come to us. We have to go make plays. I think smart is the key word. Just play smart all game long.”
This Week 4 clash represents more than just a chance to exorcise some demons. The NFC North race, almost a quarter of the way through the season, is the toughest in the NFL with four teams over .500. The division’s only two losses came in intra-division games, while the four teams are 7-0-1 outside of the North.
The Vikings slipped up against the Packers in Week 2. Sunday gives them an opportunity to bounce back, albeit in a venue that’s given them nightmares for nearly two decades.
“The wins over Atlanta and Oakland I don’t count any less,” said Cousins. “But in a division game and knowing that our division appears to be very strong this year, we will take any win we can get and we need to get as many as we can, especially if you can get one on the road. Very important. This is big boy football, Chicago knows that too. We’re not going to have any extra motivation that Chicago doesn’t have. We’re going to go in there with two heavyweights and one is going to emerge with a victory.”
