Bears Knock Brett Favre Out Early, Clinch NFC North In Dominating 40-14 Victory

We’re not done with Favre yet, though. We’ll likely be in the same situation next week wondering if he’ll play.

And then there’s the Chicago defense which knocked Favre out of the game and dominated for most of the night:

It’s hard to say many bad things about this defense. They’re certainly a top five defense, probably top three, and they’re the type of unit that will make someone’s life miserable in the playoffs. How far can the Bears ago? After watching this defense again, I hate to put a cap on what they can do. They will be a tough out in the playoffs.

Before being knocked out on that play, the night started off great for Favre and the Vikings, who took the ball down the field for a TD on their opening drive. After the game, Favre said he “probably should’ve gone straight up the tunnel after that.” Yep, probably.

After being concussed, Favre was replaced by rookie QB Joe Webb who went on to struggle for the remainder of the game. Webb finished 15-for-26 passing for 126 yards and two INTs. He also rushed for 38 yards and a TD, but was clearly uncomfortable in the pocket, often tucking the ball to run prematurely after his first passing option wasn’t open.

Check out Daily Norseman for more on the Vikings loss.

When he knocked out of Monday night’s game with a head injury, the writing was already on the wall. It’s already a foregone conclusion this is his final season ( we think). So could this have been the final play of his career?

As finite as that sounds, Favre was sure to caveat things by throwing in “if this was my last game.” Of course he had to throw that in. And finally, Brett returned to the center, trying not to sound like he was leaning one way or the other:

From there, however, things quickly went the Bears way. And for Favre, he might have just thrown his last touchdown pass. Or any pass, for that matter.

During the 2nd quarter, rookie Corey Wootten drove Brett into the ground, injuring his head. Favre remained face down on the ground before leaving under his own power. He would not return with what has been described as a head injury.

He’s also now tied with Eric Metcalf for most punt return TDs (10). To his credit, Hester has played in 74 career games while Metcalf played in 179.

Hester had tied Mitchell for most combined return TDs in Week 6 when he took a punt back 89 yards for a score. Mitchell recorded his 13 return TDs in 463 career games. It begs the question…how many more returns does Hester have in him?

With 5:16 left in a third quarter that seems to have gone on forever, the Bears lead the Vikings 34-14.

Webb has done a solid job making us forget about that Favre guy. He’s 4-of-6 for 38 yards and has 28 rushing yards and a score. Not too shabby.

Call him the Runslinger.

They kicked the ball back to Devin Hester who promptly returned it 64 yards for a touchdown, making it 27-7, and basically putting the Vikes out of their misery. It also proved the age-old theorem…don’t kick to Devin Hester.

Stick a fork in everyone wearing purple.

Favre was almost held out of this game after missing last week’s due to a right shoulder injury. He’s also had chest and ankle injuries throughout the latter portion of the season.

via @bubbaprog’s 30fps.mocksession.com

Tonight’s other surprise start, RB Toby Gerhart, added 26 yards on four carries, including a nine-yard burst up the middle. He’s starting in place of Adrian Peterson, who was ruled out with a mysterious thigh injury.

It wouldn’t be a Vikings game without more questions about starting quarterback Brett Favre and whether he will start. But Favre having his status changed from out to questionable was just one part of the story; the Vikings then had to find out if he could throw the ball.

We are told -- and have no reason to doubt -- that the man in the cold-weather outfit throwing the ball is Brett Favre, in the latest step of his will-he-or-won’t-he saga over his playing status against old rival the Chicago Bears. We have, of course, since learned that Favre will in fact take the frozen field.

Not sure which is the biggest surprise of the night: Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre is playing, or RB Adrian Peterson is not. Just two hours ago, Peterson looked like the obvious focal point of the Minnesota offense with Favre out.

The Minnesota Vikings announced via Twitter that QB Brett Favre is active and will start tonight against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. Favre came out on TCF Bank Stadium’s frozen field to throw around about two hours before game time, putting his injured shoulder to the test. He threw about 15 times to mixed reviews.

Favre’s consecutive-games-started streak will restart at one, and Favre may give the Vikings a better chance to play spoiler against the Bears, but rookie QB Joe Webb’s ascent to Minnesota’s starting role will be postponed at best. Many Vikings fans had been hoping to see what the team had in the versatile Webb.

ESPN Twin Cities’ Tom Pelissero described Favre as “chucking darts,” but Kevin Seifert was not impressed:

The Vikings should declare Favre’s status any minute now, with only an hour and a half to go until kickoff.

UPDATE: Adrian Peterson is inactive tonight with a thigh injury.

SB Nation’s Windy City Gridiron agrees with us on that predicting a busy day for the running backs.

There are over 63,000 Vikings season ticket holders that have a ticket to this game. There are only about 50,000 seats in TCF Bank Stadium. The Vikings solution....

That means if you show up early enough, you can get a ticket, just like these fans did around 2:30 p.m. Monday afternoon:

There were plenty of logistical problems with this but none bigger than the ridiculous amount of snow that had been sitting in the stadium, which was not constructed with December games in mind. Volunteers worked round the clock to clear the snow from the stadium but that may not be enough.

According to the National Weather Service, the low tonight will be 23 degrees with 11 mile per hour winds. The chance of snow stands at 90 percent.

This changes the dynamics of the game. With Webb, you couldn’t realistically expect the Vikings to beat Bears but if Favre is in that changes things. He’s been far from consistent this year but his presence would give the Vikings a better chance to win than Webb.

Brett Favre apparently won’t go down without a fight so we’ll be monitoring his injury situation as the game nears.

There will obviously be some things that are a little unusual in this game. The playing surface has created some controversy as a few players have complained about how hard it is with the snow sitting on top of it throughout the winter and some have questioned the safety of playing there. Bears head coach Lovie Smith recently dismissed any complaints about the field and said they’ll be ready to go. There will also be no alcohol sold and the tickets are first-come, first-serve.

The Bears defense is really the key here. They’re the third ranked defense and are superb against the run. That’s bad news for the Vikings who may be relying on Adrian Peterson and the running game with Webb starting the game. We’re going to assume the Bears will be able to slow down (but not stop) Peterson which will make for a long day for Webb and the Vikings.