Unnecessary for Bears to Hedge

Analysis: The Vikings are already committing to playing healthy starters so there's no reason the Bears need to keep anyone guessing.

Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell ended some speculation rather directly on Monday by saying his team will come playing to win against the Bears Sunday at Soldier Field in the finale.

It's too bad the Bears haven't already ended speculation on their own end.

O'Connell said any changes to his lineup would be "...more subtle just knowing that the 2 seed is still available for us," according to Will Ragatz for FanNation's Inside The Vikings.

The second seed can be won by the Vikings but only if the 49ers lose to the Cardinals, which would be one of the least likely upsets of the final week. The Cardinals already lost at home 38-10 to the 49ers and this game is a San Francisco home game.

However, the NFL on Monday announced official times for all Sunday games and the Bears play Minnesota at noon while the 49ers-Cardinals game is at 3 p.m. So the Vikings won't really have the option of sitting players if playing a second-round playoff game at home means something to them. And it should.

O'Connell also pointed out something many coaches should take into account but for some reason don't. 

"We still have a lot to play for just from a momentum standpoint," O'Connell told reporters.

Too many times teams get in the playoffs and after resting players in the final regular-season game, they are flat and totally lay an egg the next week in postseason.

In the Vikings' case, it's even more important to get momentum back because on Sunday they were buried by Green Bay. Besides that embarrassment, they would be going into the playoffs with it as their last effort if they finish the regular season starting subs.

If only the Bears were more honest and direct with their intention.

Coach Matt Eberflus on Monday said he must talk with GM Ryan Poles to decide on how much they'll play starters.

Whether they play starters isn't the issue. Their starters aren't much different than backups at this point.

The issue, of course, is whether they play Justin Fields.

They don't need Fields in the lineup behind a backup line–although at this point it's hard to see how a backup Bears line would be much worse than what he had in front of him Sunday at game's end. He has already been sacked more times than any QB in Bears recorded history. So they want to add a few more?

Toss in the wide receiver group is also sub-standard without Darnell Mooney and what's the point of playing Fields?

A disturbing aspect of all of this is Eberflus merely said "potentially" when asked if everyone would know who starts by Wednesday.

"That conversation, we're going to have that all the way through Wednesday, all the way through Friday and we'll decide as we go," Eberflus said.

There's no reason a decision like this needs to go until Thursday or Friday unless there really is an injury involved. 

It has become a habit of this coaching staff to wait until the last second on any injury or personnel situation announcement for the sake of "competitive advantage," but this should not apply now, if it ever did.

And if injury is a factor, it shouldn't go until Friday. The Bears should simply rule Fields out and be done with it by Wednesday. 

Why risk anything at all? The term injuries can be a gray area but here's how gray it should be for Fields: hip injury, out; shoulder bothering him, out; hangnail, out.

There is no real benefit to playing Fields at all. 

The pathetic explanation Sunday about Fields playing until game's end in a 41-10 rout because he needed experience is entirely invalid, that is, unless the experience he needs is getting thrown to the turf and losing lopsided games. 

One or two meaningless games playing with a lineup that will be dissolved in its current state during free agency is actually only experience at taking a beating and not experience at competitive football.    

The only reason they need to wait to make an announcement is if the goal is to dupe people into thinking they are buying tickets to see Fields break a dubious record in a meaningless game.

Nothing is lost if he sits, other than a chance to break Lamar Jackson's rushing record for quarterbacks of 1,206 yards. This is not even a record officially recognized by the league in its NFL Record and Fact Book. It's just someone saying he plays a position where passing is the primary requirement but he had to run for more yards than anyone, which isn't necessarily a positive.

If the Vikings can say on a Monday that they have too much to play for to sit everyone, then surely a Bears team with nine straight losses and possibly more defeats for one season than any in franchise history can say by Wednesday if their healthy or injured quarterback is sitting or playing.

This irritating habit Eberflus has of waiting to announce an obvious personnel situation for the sake of what he says is a "competitive advantage" is entirely unwarranted here because this Bears team is no longer competitive. 

They proved it last week, and giving them another chance to prove it with Fields' future on the line is ill advised or even coaching malpractice. 

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