WHEN THE VIKINGS HAVE THE BALL
KEY PLAYERS
Bears DT Henry Melton, who plays a key role against Adrian Peterson, figures to be better in his second game after a sluggish performance last week. He’ll be up against veteran Vikings C John Sullivan, who suffered a bruised knee when he was cut by Ndamukong Suh last week but stayed in the game. Peterson gained 10 yards on 13 carries after Sullivan’s injury.
ON THE GROUND
It starts and ends with Adrian Peterson, who was the only RB to carry the ball against the Lions last week. Peterson had a 78-yard TD run on his first carry of the season but was held to 15 yards on 17 carries after that. The Bears contained BenJarvus Green-Ellis last week (14-25), but that was BenJarvus Green-Ellis. The defensive line is always the key vs. Peterson — getting a hand on him at the line goes a long way to avoiding disaster. Bears DT Stephen Paea played well against the Bengals, but Pro Bowler Henry Melton was ineffective in his first game since suffering a concussion in the preseason opener.
IN THE AIR
Vikings QB Christian Ponder’s 3 games against the Bears are among the 7 lowest-rated games of his career — 8.3 in 2011 and 53.8 and 58.2 in 2012, with a 52.9 completion rate, 1 TD and 3 INTs. The Vikes signed WR Greg Jennings, who had 4 games with 97 yards or more vs. the Bears with the Packers. Jennings had 3 catches for 33 yards last week. Jerome Simpson had 7 catches for 140 yards. The Bears had 0 sacks and 2 hurries vs. the Bengals last week. But the Vikings’ pass blocking was 29th in the NFL last week, according to ProFootballFocus.com. LT Ryan Kalil was subpar vs. Lions rookie Ziggy Ansah.