PSO Premium Review: Vikings vs. Bears on MNF

1. The Bears’ 5-1 start was fool’s gold

The Chicago Bears raised a lot of eyebrows after starting 5-1, and with that came collective criticism from several people claiming this start was mostly a result of an easy early schedule. These claims have come to fruition over the last few weeks as Da Bears dropped their fourth straight game tonight in a rather ugly fashion, and are now 5-5 in 2020.

Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse, Nick Foles went down with an injury and was carted off with less than a minute to play in the game on a drive that most likely would’ve come up well short of the game-winning touchdown CHI needed either way. It was the encapsulation of Chi-town’s offense this season, the summation of their struggles in a season that is quickly diminishing. As Foles’ injuries are evaluated this week, Mitch Trubisky will likely regain CHI’s starting QB job (if he’s healthy after a shoulder injury of his own) and look to somehow get this declining team back on track. 

2. In the blink of an eye, the Vikings are a playoff contender again

Sitting at 1-5 prior to their bye week, the Vikings’ 2020 season looked like a lost cause with fans already looking at top NFL Draft prospects. Fast forward three weeks after their bye and MIN is now on a 3-game winning streak with a legitimate chance to make a playoff push. At 4-5 and just half a game behind CHI for 2nd place in the NFC North, the Vikings face three injury-riddled teams in DAL, CAR, and JAX over the next three weeks with a real chance of going from 1-5 to 7-5 in no time. The entire NFC North is still in the playoff picture as the Packers, Bears, Vikings, & Lions are all one game under .500 or better.

3. Cordarrelle Patterson is one of the greatest returners ever

Few players can say they’ve taken a kickoff to the end zone once, and even fewer have done it multiple times. Well, Cordarrelle Patterson is one of those “even fewer” guys who now shares the all-time record at eight with Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington. Patterson this season has been the definition of a human swiss army knife, especially tonight, lining up at WR and even RB while also doing what he does best in the return game. In a season where Chicago has been lackluster on offense, Patterson has been one of the few consistent producers on that side of the ball and is incredibly important to this team going forward in multiple facets of the game plan.