In 1961, the first year of the Minnesota Vikings franchise, the Vikes opened their inaugural season against the powerhouse Chicago Bears. Nobody (probably not even the Vikings themselves) gave themselves much of a chance against the class of the NFL, but on that day a young whippersnapper named Fran Tarkenton threw for 250 yards and four touchdowns to beat Da Bears 37-13 that, in all reality, rivals Super Bowl III (Joe Namath over Johnny Unitas) in "upset factor".
The Vikes will need much less to win tomorrow night's contest. It used to be that the Bears would completely stifle even a good Vikings offense, but now they can't even stop a bad one. If the Vikes can play smart, not turn the ball over, and capitalize on red-zone opportunities, we will stand alone at the top of the NFC North come Monday morning.
Prediction: Vikings 21, Bears 14
Keywords: Chicago Bears, Fran Tarkenton, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, Minnesota Vikings, NFC North
Comments
All I can say is Bravo to your point! Fabulous Fran was simply amazing. I have a sports store here that his alleged cousin has been in a time or two already and is offering to have Fran grace me with a showing for a couple hours to sign autographs and THAT simply doesn't happen for FREE. Back on to the Purple, I agree, TURNOVERS would be the death of us. I don't have Sunday ticket, so normally I can't watch them, so I listen on the Radio or via text or the web. But today they are on Sunday night and I do have NBC at home, so ROCK on......Capitalizing on the RED zone and giving up no more than one turnover (or NONE) is the key. Just run the ball and flick one every now and again to Berrian and we'll be just fine. Well, there will be more to it than that, but we all get the point.