29-year old linebacker Lance Briggs is the only Chicago Bears’ player going to the Pro Bowl this season.  He has played in 14 games for the Bears this season and he has made 106 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, defensed 5 passes, has 2.5 sacks and 1 interception.  This is a Pro Bowl that’s well deserved for Briggs who didn’t have a lot of help on defense this season due to injuries.

The Bears will likely be playing without S/KR Danieal Manning this Sunday due to a calf injury.  He has played in 15 games this season for the Bears and he has made 92 tackles, 1 sack, forced 2 fumbles, defensed 2 passes and he has 1 interception.  Manning has also returned 28 kickoffs for 744 yards (26.6 avg) this season.  The Bears could really miss him if he can’t play this weekend.

The Chicago Bears have placed CB Charles Tillman and DT Israel Idonije on the Injured Reserve List ending their seasons.  Tillman has fractured ribs and a bruised lung while Idonije has a foot injury.  Tillman played in 15 games for the Bears this season and he made 77 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, forced 6 fumbles, defensed 7 passes and he has 2 interceptions (one returned for a TD).  Idonije played in 15 games for the Bears this season and he made 18 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, forced 1 fumble and he had 2.5 sacks.  The Bears might really miss Tillman this weekend against Calvin Johnson of the Lions.

35-year old punter Brad Maynard may miss this week’s game for the Bears.  He has played in 15 games for the Bears this season and he has punted the ball 72 times for 3,017 yards (41.9 avg).  Maynard has only 2 touchbacks (2.8%) this season and he has pinned the opposing team inside their own 20-yard line 25 times (34.7%) this year.  The Bears have signed 26-year old Richmond McGee who could make his NFL debut against the Lions this week as the punter.  If the Bears were playing any other team but the Lions this might be a huge issue but the Bears might not need the punter much in this game due to the Lions’ horrific defense.

Devin Hester’s injury opened the door for 25-year old Devin Aromashodu who in his first six games with the Bears caught only 2 passes for 16 yards (8.0 avg).  But, in his last three games Aromashodu has caught 17 passes for 236 yards (13.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs for the Bears.  Previous to this season with the Bears he had played in only 6 games in which he caught 7 passes for 96 yards (13.7 avg).  It looks like the Bears have a keeper in Aromashodu proving that sometimes injuries open doors for players that teams’ never knew they had.

The Bears blew a 16-0 halftime lead forcing them to win this game in O.T.  Jay Cutler finally looked last night like the QB the Bears expected him to be.  He completed 20 of 35 passes for 273 yards with 4 TD passes and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 10 yards (3.3 ypc).  Matt Forte was busy carrying the ball 21 times for 74 yards (3.5 ypc) but he didn’t play well.  Khalil Bell pitched in with 21 yards rushing on 4 carries (5.3 ypc) last night.  WR Devin Aromashodu led the way in the passing game for the Bears last night with 7 grabs for 150 yards (21.4 avg) including the game-winning TD reception in O.T.  Greg Olsen (3 rec, 47 yards), Desmond Clark (5 rec, 39 yards) and Earl Bennett (3 rec, 35 yards) each caught 1 TD apiece last night for the Bears.  The Bears finished up with 363 total yards in this game on offense (105 rushing, 258 passing).

The defense didn’t play well last night but they made their share of big plays which helped the Bears win the game.  Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer was all over the place last night with 15 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  DT Tommie Harris (3 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 pass defensed and 1 fumble recovery) and LB Nick Roach (5 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) both made big impacts in this game for the Bears.  The Vikings finished up with 423 total yards (123 rushing, 300 passing) in this game.  The Bears are now 6-9 on the year.

The Bears will have to play their best game of the year to just make this a competitive football game.  These two teams played four weeks ago in Minnesota and the Vikings crushed them 36-10.  The Vikings have some issues on pass defense as they are allowing 220.7 yards per game through the air so the Bears should just start throwing the ball all around the field tonight.  While it’s true that Jay Cutler has sucked this season he is still a talented football player who might have a good game in him for tonight.  For him to be even somewhat effective tonight the Bears’ O-Line will have to keep Vikings’ DE Jared Allen away from him and that is easier said than done.  Matt Forte will likely have to fight for every yard he gets tonight as the Vikings are only allowing 89.6 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry this year.

The Bears must stop Adrian Peterson at all costs tonight but that will be easier said than done as the Bears are allowing 128.5 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry this season.  If the Bears have luck stopping Peterson (not likely) then they can focus on stopping Brett Favre and the Vikings’ passing game which has not been too good the last couple of weeks.  Still, Favre usually saves his best games for when his team really needs them……like tonight for instance.

PREDICTION:  VIKINGS 30, BEARS 10

25-year old cornerback Zack Bowman has really stepped up this season for the Bears.  He has played in 14 games for the Bears this season and he has made 55 tackles, defensed 7 passes, forced 1 fumble and he has 5 interceptions.  The Bears are glad to see Bowman step up because they have had issues on defense this season.

29-year old linebacker Lance Briggs has not slowed down one bit this season.  He has played in 13 games for the Bears this season and he has 100 tackles, 4 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, 5 passes defensed and 1 interception.  Briggs now has six straight seasons of 100+ tackles for the Bears and the hope is that he and Brian Urlacher will lead a much improved Bears’ D in 2010.

23-year old undrafted rookie running back Khalil Bell should be more involved in the offense the last couple of weeks.  With Matt Forte still struggling it would make sense to give Bell a shot to show what he can really do.  Bell has played in 5 games for the Bears this season and he has carried the ball 25 times for 155 yards (6.2 ypc) and he has also caught 1 pass for 4 yards.  The Bears’ season is pretty much over so it wouldn’t hurt to see what they have in Bell.