LOGICAL APPROACH

Minnesota - 7 over Chicago (Monday) - The Vikings have had their problems on the road of late, dropping their last two such contests at Arizona and Carolina by a combined 56-24 score. Chicago is playing out the string and cannot truly play spoiler as the Vikes have already clinched the NFC North title. But Minny is now in danger of losing the # 2 NFC seed to Philadelphia. We've seen teams out of contention use the national limelight as a stage to at least get some satisfaction as San Francisco upset Arizona two weeks ago and last Sunday night saw Carolina upset these very Vikings. But Chicago has not shown the same signs entering this contest as have those other teams that pulled off big home upsets. The night cold will be a challenge for the Vikes in general but not for QB Favre who enjoyed these conditions when with Green Bay. Much will be made of his sideline confrontation with Coach Childress who wanted to take him out of last week's game with the Vikes up 7-6 but it's not really an issue. It's tempting to make a case for the Bears but the edges just are not there. With Minnesota hearing Philly footsteps they should put forth a fully focused effort here to get back on track as a legitimate NFC contender. They have all the fundamental edges. Minnesota wins 27-13.