Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010
11:00 AM
By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com
The talk with Mac and Spiegs on WSCR-AM 670s The Danny Mac Show was whats still on a lot of minds a lot of places: where the Bears-Minnesota Vikings will in fact play Monday.
Vikings coach and former Bear Leslie Frazier told Larry Mayer of ChicagoBears.com and me that the thinking is 80-90 percent sure that itll be at the University of Minnesotas TCF Bank Stadium, which is head-shaking on so many levels. The franchise wants to give its fans a home game, yet temps that night are predicted in single digits, which speaks more to wanting max revenue from a home game rather than fan comfort.
The guys had just seen a tweet from Jeff Zulgad on the Minneapolis Star-Tribunes Access Vikings that the Bears may file a protest over field conditions, which are indeed a factor given the frozen state of the state up there.
One venue that we batted around, not for this game but maybe someday, is the prospect of NFL football again in Los Angeles and could the Vikings move there as a couple groups are trying to make happen. The Los Angeles Vikings isnt a team name; its an oxymoron, like Utah Jazz (another team that moved but didnt change its last name). Utah and Jazz dont compute, and neither do L.A. and Vikings. Well see.
Mac cut to a Bears issue, though, that wont go away and thats the need for the offensive line to take another next-step vs. the Vikings, wherever they play. The Bears needed to run the ball against New England and 47 yards on 14 carries is not good enough for a team that expects to play more than 16 games.
NFL
The guys also noted that the combined point production from the four NFC North teams last weekend was 20: seven each by the Bears and Lions, three each by the Packers and Vikings.
I threw out that going almost unnoticed under all the talk of Bears clinching next weekend is that the Packers are teetering precipitously close to missing the playoffs entirely. A loss in New England would be six for the team many picked to be playing in the Super Bowl. Right now either Atlanta or New Orleans, winners of seven and six straight, respectively, is getting one wild card. And Philadelphia and the Giants have four losses right now. Those two play each other this weekend but the Giants go to Green Bay yet this season and that could matter a lot for the Packers chances.
John "Moon" Mullin is CSNChicago.com's Bears Insider, and appears regularly on Bears Postgame Live and Chicago Tribune Live. Follow Moon on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bears information.