The Minnesota Vikings have gotten out to a disappointing 4-5 start this season, but they have a chance to stay undefeated within the NFC North if they can beat the Chicago Bears this Sunday. Minnesota already beat Chicago in Week 1 this year and defeated the Lions two weeks ago, so a win would get the Vikings to 3-0 within the division.

To pull off the victory, the Vikings need to stay disciplined. That will be required not only after the ball is snapped, but also beforehand. Doing so will help the Vikings stay on schedule and on script, allowing Kevin O’Connell to call a game that doesn’t require J.J. McCarthy to do too much.

Here are three bold predictions for Sunday’s game against the Bears.

3 Bold predictions for Vikings vs Bears in Week 11The Vikings won’t have any false starts

As offensive coordinator Wes Phillips would say, it’s embarrassing that this is a storyline at all, let alone at home. But the Vikings committed eight false start penalties last week against the Ravens, the most any team has been called for at home since the Bills were penalized nine times back in 2009.

Five of those false starts came on first down, putting the Vikings in 1st-and-15 and almost forcing them out of the run game. If the Vikings can stay disciplined and not jump offsides on offense, they will give their young quarterback a better chance to succeed.

The Vikings will call more run plays than pass plays

False starts were a major reason for the lopsided run-pass ratio in last week’s loss, but not the only one. McCarthy attempted 42 passes, was sacked once, and took off running five times. Without those five runs, the Vikings attempted only 13 runs with Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. That’s even after they averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

Chicago is allowing opposing teams to average 5.2 yards per rush, the fourth-worst mark in the league. One way to protect McCarthy is to let the other playmakers on offense take control of the game. The Vikings are averaging 4.6 yards per run, which ranks 12th in the league. O’Connell must stay disciplined and not stray from the ground game.

Harrison Smith will force a takeaway

Takeaways have been hard to come by for the Vikings this season. Five of their nine takeaways came against the Bengals in Week 3. It’s a far cry from the 2024 season, when the Vikings were tied for the league lead with 33 takeaways.

This will be Harrison Smith’s 200th regular-season game, meaning he should be as locked in as ever. The Bears are doing a good job protecting the ball, as their six turnovers rank 4th in the league. But Smith has always had an eye for the ball, intercepting 37 passes, forcing 13 fumbles, and recovering 10 in his career. A forced turnover in his 200th game could be the boost this team needs to pull off a much-needed division win.