Monday Night Football provides a crucial chance for the Minnesota Vikings (6-5) to keep their playoff hopes alive when the cellar-dwelling Chicago Bears (3-8) come to town for an NFC North rivalry matchup. The Vikings haven't had their bye week yet, so if they can win to get to 7-5 they should be in pretty good shape for a second straight postseason berth with several key injured players expected back, including superstar receiver and 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Justin Jefferson, after their Week 13 bye. The Vikings are -3 on the SportsLine consensus vs. Chicago as they look for the season sweep. 

Minnesota is currently sixth in the NFC, -220 to make the playoffs and a +475 second favorite to win the North for the second year in a row behind first-place Detroit (-600), which leads the Vikings by two games. The Vikings already got one major break in Week 12 in their quest for the division title when the Lions were stunned at home on Thanksgiving by Green Bay. The Vikings and Lions still play each other twice. Minnesota can become the seventh team since the merger to reach the playoffs after a 0-3 start. 

It seems likely that Monday will be the last primetime game as Bears head coach for Matt Eberflus as he is widely expected to be fired after this disappointing season. Frankly, it behooves Chicago to lose as much as possible the rest of the way and potentially have two top-five picks in the 2024 NFL Draft in its own pick and Carolina's, which currently would be No. 1 overall. 

The Bears are currently on a 12-game losing streak vs. divisional opponents and a 16-game losing streak against opponents with a winning record, the longest active streaks in the NFL by seven and nine games, respectively. The divisional skid is the team's longest since the 1970 merger. 

Chicago somehow blew a 26-14 late fourth-quarter lead in Week 11 in Detroit and lost 31-26, becoming the first team this season to lose a game with at least a 10-point lead in the final five minutes of regulation. The Bears were also the first team since the 2005 Jets to lose with a time of possession of at least 40 minutes and a turnover differential of plus-3 or better. That was probably the last straw for Eberflus' job security, but the Bears have never fired a head coach midseason and there's really no point now. It'll likely happen shortly after the final game.

Favorites have covered the spread in 12 of 15 games in Week 12, tying the record for most in a single week (Week 12 of 2017) in the Super Bowl era. There has never been a week in the SB era in which favorites covered the spread in 13 games.  

We'll take you through every aspect of the Bears-Vikings Monday night game that you need to know before you lock in your bets, including SportsLine expert picks, props, trends, injury information and everything else that will help you know which plays are worth making for the primetime matchup.

Who wins Vikings vs. Bears in the Week 12 Monday Night Football game, and what critical X-factor makes one side of the spread hit HARD? Join SportsLine right now to see everything you need to know about the game in the 12th Monday night matchup of the 2023 season!