NFL Football
2026-09-20 - Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NFL Week 2
Sunday 20th September 2026 - Scheduled 1pm EST
6pm (British Time)
Preview
Week 1 of the NFL season concluded with three NFC North teams opening at 1-0 and the Minnesota Vikings (1-0) are the reason that the Green Bay Packers were the only team that failed to open with a win.
Since then, the Detroit Lions have dropped to 1-1 and that does mean either the Vikings or the Chicago Bears (1-0) can finish up Week 2 leading the Division as the only unbeaten team (assuming this game will not finish in a tie).
The Vikings were perhaps a little fortunate that the Green Bay Packers capitulated as they did in Week 1 and they will be aware that they will need to be a lot better to beat a Chicago Bears team that have been speaking excitedly about the Offensive unit before the season had begun. An early statement was made by Caleb Williams and the Bears when scoring 59 points in a road win over 2025 NFC South Champions Carolina Panthers, while also putting up over 550 Offensive yards.
No one associated with the Bears can expect to see that kind of output every week, but the Quarter Back has been speaking confidently about the standards Chicago want to set.
They did whatever they wanted against the Carolina Panthers, but this should be a more challenging game against a Minnesota team that had focused on improving the Defensive personnel. Last week the Vikings Defensive Line were able to win at the Line of Scrimmage and prevent the Green Bay Packers from getting consistency from the run game and they will be looking to at least slow a Chicago team that were picking up huge yards on the ground.
However, Caleb Williams will have taken note of the holes that Jordan Love attacked in the Vikings Secondary and the Quarter Back can pick up from there.
Caleb Williams is likely going to be put under some pressure if the team are not able to keep him in third and manageable positions on the field, but he has shown he can move out of the pocket and continue to make plays down the field. Avoiding turnovers is key, but the Bears should be confident they can move the ball with some consistency and that will put the pressure on Minnesota to try and keep up on the scoreboard.
Brian Flores will have his Defensive unit make some plays, but they will need those turnovers to make things easier for an Offense that is going to be led by Carson Wentz rather than Kyler Murray.
A concussion has forced Murray out, but the Minnesota Vikings have an inexperienced Quarter Back coming into the lineup and one who had over 1200 passing yards with 6 Touchdown passes last season.
239 total yards were produced by the Vikings last week as they took advantage of the mistakes made by the Green Bay Packers, but that is asking a lot for that to happen again.
Carson Wentz did have a good game at Quarter Back and the Vikings have talented Receivers who will have seen the Chicago Secondary struggle to make plays last week and that will offer the road team encouragement. The Vikings can also expect a bit more balance in the Offensive play as they are expected to establish the run against a Bears Defensive Line that struggled last season and who have opened up the 2026 season by allowing the Panthers to pick up big yards on the ground.
The Bears will be playing with some revenge on their mind having lost the home opener at Soldier Field to the Minnesota Vikings last year, but they will have a lot of respect for this Divisional rival.
Nothing ever comes easy in the NFL and Chicago cannot expect to be as strong as they were in Week 1, but they may still do enough to force a couple of mistakes from this Vikings Offense and stall some drives. That may be enough to give the Bears the edge and they may just edge past this spread set to move to 2-0 in the Division.
Prediction
Lay the points with the home favourite.
The Pick :
Chicago Bears 27-17 Minnesota Vikings
