Sunday Night Lights: Week 6, Vikings At Bears Pre-Party (Open Thread)

Wait, I thought we just got done playing at night. 

Oh, that was Monday night against the Lions. Well, this is the Vikings. Must be a typo, this wouldn't be a Sunday night game, would it? It would? 

Yep, in a game NBC probably wishes right now it could flex out of, the 1-4 Vikings will head to Chicago to play the 2-3 Bears. And after losing to the Lions last week and falling three games back in the division to both them and the Packers, the Bears can't afford to lose any more ground should this team have any playoff aspirations. While winning the next two games would put the Bears at 4-3, the same record as last season after seven, the major difference is they would only be in third place, still, behind the Packers and Lions.

Meanwhile, the Vikings seem to have finally figured out how to play two halves of football as they collected their first win of the season last week against Arizona. While Donovan McNabb may just be a shell of his former self, the Vikings are not a team devoid of weapons - the ones they have are actually quite decent. This won't be easy.

Game-related linkage after the jump.

ESPNChicago's game preview.

The Sun-Times did a Q&A with Charles Tillman.

Apparently bad things happen for whichever team loses tonight. Good to know.

The Bears need to find their own Theo Epstein?

Pompei explains why the Bears haven't rushed to a Forte extension.

The injury report, as posted yesterday. Julius Peppers, still doubtful. Kellen Davis was a late addition.

Don't worry, Chris and Brandon, sure you two played bad, but Mike Brown's got your backs.

Matt Bowen gets technical  on us again.

So how does one stop Chinese currency manipulation? Starting Caleb Hanie is a start. Still waiting on studies indicating whether benching Frank Omiyale is conducive to turning around Wall Street, or if giving more carries to Marion Barber will further lower gas prices. (H/T Overlord himself)

Gameday procedures: Early games open thread at noon CT/1 PM ET, late games open thread at 3:15 CT/4:15 ET. First quarter thread will pop right at 7:20 CT/8:20 ET, with each quarter thread appearing as the game advances. Recap will be up shortly after game end.

With the propers out of the way... Bear Down!

Chicago Bears Fight Song (via scifiradioguy)