Three Keys to Beating the Vikings: Offense

1) Get Devin Hester Involved. Any. Way. Possible.

You might view this as another "Hester is a #1!" argument. You'd be wrong. Over his career against the Vikings (9 games), Devin scored 7 touchdowns - 4 as a receiver and three as a punt returner. Chris Kluwe always seems to make the mistake of outkicking his coverage, which against Hester is a good way to get your team behind. His receiving numbers may be a tad limited, but if we account for four of his seventeen receptions being touchdowns and having a 16.41 yards-per-reception against Minnesota, it's safe to say the Vikings haven't quite figured him out, even as a gimmick. Minnesota doesn't have the strongest secondary and might be missing Antoine Winfield, which could mean a big day for the speedsters. Just... please, Hester, for the love of Ditka, do not treat a screen like a punt return. Ever. Again.

2) Get Jay Out Of The Pocket. And Away From Jared Allen and Brian Robison.

The Vikings' pass rush hasn't missed a beat since letting Ray Edwards fly the coop and land in Atlanta. Robison is having a pretty solid year and Jared Allen has returned to being Jared Allen. While the news of Frank Omiyale's benching comes as a welcome, welcome piece of information, it still doesn't make the line particularly good - improved, but not good. So the less time Cutler spends behind the Deathwall, the better. We saw how effective Cutler can be on the move, he just needs to do it more. Getting out of the pocket might also be a way to slow down the pass rush.

3) Enough with the false starts and penalties.

The Bears false-started so many times last week, Usain Bolt would have been disqualified from a 100m dash four times. I know some of it was credit to the Ford Field fans, but nine false starts is pretty inexcusable. The Bears shot themselves in the foot on several occasions last week with silly penalties and false starts, namely pushing from third and medium to third and very long. Maybe the penalties are a way for Martz to get into a position where he has to call his favorite seven-step drops to get Cutler killed?

Either way. If this Bears offense is going to be productive ever in the NFL, penalties and killing your own drives are not the way to go about it. Stop. That.

Random Note: This season rushing the ball, Matt Forte has 440 yards on 82 carries (5.4 YPC). Adrian Peterson has 498 yards on 110 carries (4.5). Forte has 345 yards on 30 receptions (11.5), Peterson has 49 yards on 9 receptions (5.4). Peterson has 6 total TDs. Forte has two.