• WHO: Chicago Bears (7-8) at Minnesota Vikings (3-12).

• WHEN: Sunday, noon, Fox.

• OPENING LINE: Bears by 1.

• RECORD VS. SPREAD: Chicago 7-8; Minnesota 6-8-1.

• SERIES RECORD: Vikings lead 52-47-2. Last meeting, Bears beat
Vikings 39-10, Oct. 16.

• NFL RANKINGS: Bears’ offense, overall (20), rushing (8), passing
(26); Bears’ defense, overall (18), rushing (6), passing (28);
Vikings’ offense, overall (18), rushing (4), passing (28); Vikings’
defense, overall (25), rushing (12), passing (29).

• FACTS & FIGURES: Bears have won four straight in series,
their longest since six in a row from 1983-86 and longest overall
in this rivalry since Vikings won four straight over 1997 and 1998
seasons. … Bears have only won at Metrodome once since 2002,
19-16 in 2006. These teams didn’t play at site, now known as Mall
of America Field, last season because of roof collapse that forced
game outside to TCF Bank Stadium on University of Minnesota campus.
… Home team has won 16 of last 19 meetings. … Bears averaging
35.5 points in Past four games against Vikings. … In 10 games
against Vikings, WR/KR/PR Devin Hester has nine of his 30 career
TDs, five receiving and four returning. He scored twice in last
meeting. … RB Kahlil Bell, filling in for injured Matt Forte
(sprained right knee), had career-high 121 yards rushing last week.
Vikings have given up 302 yards rushing in Past two games. …
Bears have lost five straight since starting 7-3. … Vikings QB
Christian Ponder expected to play after being knocked out of last
game with concussion; RB Adrian Peterson is having surgery to
repair tears in ACL and MCL in left knee. … Vikings trying to
avoid matching worst finish in their 51-year history, 3-13 in 1984.
… Jared Allen has 18 1/2 sacks, four off NFL single-season record
and 2 1/2 short of team single-season record. … TE Jim
Kleinsasser will play in his last game, ending 13-year career. He
has played in more games than any TE in Vikings history.

- By The AP.

LAKE FOREST — Although most of the blame for the Chicago Bears’ epic collapse is going the offense’s way, the defensive players insisted on taking a share of the responsibility for the six-game slide as well.

“Especially the last two weeks, 38 and 35 points, that’s not going to win very many games, I don’t care who’s playing quarterback for you,” Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher said.

“We haven’t gotten any takeaways in two weeks, no pressure on the quarterback. You’re not going to win a lot of games doing that. At times we’ve held up our end of the bargain, but at times we haven’t.”

The 73 points given up by the Bears is the worst two-game total for a Chicago defense in 13 years. Last week, the defense was dominated by a rag-tag Green Bay Packer offensive line missing its top three tackles.

“We were right there before things kind of started slipping away,” defensive end Israel Idonije said. “We were in a great position, and we were just really poised to do something special. For that to slip away makes it tougher.”

Last week, the Packers opened and closed the first half with touchdown drives against the Bears and put together three straight scoring drives to ice the game in the second half.

The Bears also faded in the second half in Week 15 at home, and to a team (Seattle) they were supposed to beat. The Seahawks outscored Chicago 31-0 in the second half. Still, 14 of those points were on Caleb Hanie interceptions returned for TDs, and the Bears defense did only surrender 286 total yards.

But no matter how they look at it, this latest stretch for Chicago has not been an enjoyable one.

“You can say we did our job,” Urlacher added, “but we won’t say we did.”

Cornerback Charles Tillman, recently named to his first Pro Bowl, said this defense — this team, for that matter — is close to being great.

“This team we have is very capable. This is a championship team,” Tillman said. “Even though we’re not going to make the championship this year, we’ll take a shot at it next year.”

Bears reporter Jay Taft can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com.

When Caleb Hanie threw 36 passes in Chicago’s loss at Oakland, critics howled that Mike Martz called too many passes, even though the Bears also ran for 172 yards in that game.

Martz listened. Chicago has thrown fewer than 30 passes in all four games since. And lost all four.

By the way, for all those who think Martz passes too much, the Bears did throw at least 30 times in four of the five games before that Oakland game. And won all five of them.

So, to recap, in the last 10 games, Chicago is 4-1 when it throws at least 30 passes and 1-4 when it throws 28 or fewer, and people still say Mike Martz throws too much.

Another history lesson:

When Ron Turner got ahold of Jay Cutler, the Bears threw 563 passes in 2009, the eighth-most in the NFL. Chicago ran 373 times that year, 29th-most in the NFL.

In one year, Chicago went from No. 8 in the NFL in pass attempts to dead last (No. 32) when Mike Martz took over as offensive coordinator, yet somehow his greatest fault was throwing too much? The Bears threw 52 times more than they ran last year. This year the Bears are 28th in the NFL in pass attempts and No. 8 in rushing attempts. In two years under Martz, the Bears have averaged 34.5 more passes in a season than rushing attempts, about one-sixth the 190-pass gap they had under Ron Turner. That’s about as balanced as you possibly can get running vs. passing.

And Mike Martz doesn’t just call runs. He makes those runs work. The Bears have averaged 4.5 yards per carry this year. That’s their highest mark since they also averaged 4.5 yards in both their 1985 Super Bowl season and their 14-2 year in 1986. The Bears also have more yards rushing in any season in the last 20 years except for 2005. They need 173 yards against Minnesota on Sunday to have their best running season of all in two decades.

And yet the Chicago Tribune web poll this week was whether or not Mike Martz was to blame for Chicago’s five-game losing streak. Forty-two percent said yes, that he should have adjusted the game plan more after Jay Cutler was injured.

Adjusted it to what? He kept calling more and more runs, but runs don’t lead to points without a few passes. The Bears ran all over Green Bay in the first half last week, yet still scored only three points until they turned Josh McCown loose in the second half.

Read More: Julius Peppers (DE – CHI), Chris Spencer (C – CHI), Jay Cutler (QB – CHI), Lance Briggs (LB – CHI), Devin Hester (WR – CHI), Brian Urlacher (LB – CHI), Marion Barber (RB – CHI), Nick Roach (LB – CHI), Kellen Davis (TE – CHI), Matt Forte (RB – CHI), Corey Wootton (DE – CHI), Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings, Jan 1, 2012 12:00 PM CST

The Chicago Bears have already been without Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, and they may be without Brian Urlacher and Marion Barber on Sunday when they close out their injury riddled season against the Minnesota Vikings. Urlacher missed his second straight day of practice on Thursday with a knee injury and Barber did not practice again due to a calf injury.

The good news is that Devin Hester (ankle) was a full participant on Thursday after being limited yesterday. Julius Peppers also returned to practice on Thursday after missing Wednesday’s due to a non-injury related matter.

Here is the full injury report for the Chicago Bears:

For more on the Chicago Bears, visit Windy City Gridiron. For more on the Minnesota Vikings, head over to Daily Norseman.

Read More: Chris Spencer (C – CHI), Jay Cutler (QB – CHI), Roberto Garza (G – CHI), Olin Kreutz (C – NOS), Peter Konz (OL – Wisconsin), Chicago Bears, Wisconsin Badgers

The latest mock draft from AOL’s Sporting News suggests the Chicago Bears may look to take the Wisconsin Badgers junior C Peter Konz:

16. Chicago Bears: Peter Konz*, C, Wisconsin. Jay Cutler took a beating behind the Bears’ line in 2011. Konz is smart and versatile and should be able to start at either center or guard as a rookie.

The Bears have allowed an 8.6% sack rate (sacks per pass attempt) in the 2011 NFL Season, good for 8th worst in the NFL. Chicago parted ways with their long-time center Olin Kreutz before the 2011 season, opting to start Roberto Garza (32 years old ) at center and Chris Spencer (29) at guard.

SB Nation’s earlier mock drafts have also suggested the Bears might look Konz’s way even if they have the No. 20 pick. Mocking the Draft rates Konz as the top center in the 2011 draft class.

For more NFL news and notes, head over to SB Nation Pro Football, and stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago for more Bears updates and analysis. For more in-depth analysis of the Bears, visit Windy City Gridiron.