Prior to the season, “View from the Moon” project that the Bears would defeat the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field Sunday and improve their record to 3-4. Now that becomes a difficult call.
The problem is that the Bears are weaker on defense with the loss of starting lineman Jeremiah Ratliff the very week that Adrian Peterson and an emerging quarterback Teddy Bridgewater appear in Chicago.
On the plus side, the teams of John Fox have been among the NFL’s most successful following the bye (10-3) and the Denver Broncos were 4-0 after a bye. Three of those did come with Peyton Manning as Fox’s quarterback, but one was with Tim Tebow under center.