Chicago Bears Vs Minnesota Vikings: NFL Week 17 Pre-Party Open Thread

Good morning. This late Pre-Party Open Thread is brought to you by your annual New Years celebration. Something that the Bears couldn’t exactly take advantage of last night as they head to Minnesota to take on the Vikings in their season finale.

Since the Bears beat the Vikings way back on week 8 for their second win of the year (or even the loss to the Eagles the week before, or even their bye week), it seems somebody put away the “How to Pilot the Vikings” instruction manual. Since the Vikings’ bye in week 6, they’ve won just two games in their last ten and after a 5-0 start could find themselves finishing with a losing record. They’ve also scored at least 20 points just four times in that span and allowed 20 or more in all but three (of which they’ve only won one).

As for the navy and orange, well, there certainly have been better seasons. Matt Barkley comes in after throwing another interception as he was leaving the locker room against Washington and has one more chance to try to display some things. And coupled with an IR and injury list that basically fills the entire monitor and could legit field an NFL team, I suppose it’s only fitting that Barkley, a guy who wasn’t even on the opening 90, gets the final start.

Can Jordan Howard get enough carries in the final game of the year to carry the team to a win? Let’s find out.

Some final WCG Game Week Linkage for you all this morning:

Week 17 Game Preview: Game Preview (Sam) | Potential History in Futility (Sam) | Injury Report (Les)

Bears To The Future (Organization): Losing Means A Brighter Future (Zerg) | How Close Are The Bears? (Les) | Off-Season Calendar (Ken)

Bears To The Future (Players): How Good Can Cam Meredith Be? (Les) | Sit Jordan Howard? (Ken) | Tyrod Taylor, Starting Quarterback? (Ken/Josh Collab) | Week 16 Stock Report (Zerg)

Around the NFL: Ten Thoughts (Les) | WCG We-Watch-The-Games Power Rankings (Ken) | NFC North Review, Week 16 (Zerg)

Final propers for the year, you know how it works by now. First quarter thread will drop in at noon, with subsequent quarter threads popping as the game goes on. After the game we’ll have our quick recap with the second slate thread, and in the morning we’ll have all the usual goodness of Notes, Snap Counts, and all that fun stuff.

With all that being said, for one final time this year, Bear Down.

No Livestream today, as we’re running a bit late, especially with the holiday and everything that came with celebrating, so we’re scrapping the final one here. Go ahead, discuss things, we’ll see you guys with the Livestream again in the offseason.