Bears Must Win Turnover Battle Sunday by The Sports Xchange of BearReport.com, November 27, 2009 at 9:05am ET
Charles Tillman Profile
Realistically, the Bears have little chance of winning this game without producing a major edge in turnovers. They got three against the Eagles last week, while allowing just one, yet they still lost at home.
Cornerback Charles Tillman has made forcing fumbles an art form, and Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been prone to putting the ball on the ground.
But that potential edge for the Bears pales in comparison to the matchup at quarterback, where Brett Favre has been intercepted just three times and has an NFL-low interception percentage of 1.1. The Bears' Jay Cutler, on the other hand, has been picked off an NFL-high 18 times, so hoping to win the turnover battle may be futile.
The Bears' normally elite special teams have fallen off this season but are still solid, although no better than the Vikings'.
The Bears know they have to stop Peterson first, but their coverage in the secondary has been inconsistent at best, so they'll need to get extreme pass-rush pressure on Favre, and they've been unsuccessful at that for most of the season.
The Vikings have given up a lot of passing yards, but a lot of those have come after they have raced to a big lead. Still, if Cutler gets protection, he could put up some numbers on a Minnesota pass defense that has just eight interceptions all year.
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