Come November 16, 2025, Bears Nation should have a good idea as to whether they should plan their winter vacation around a potential Chicago playoff appearance.
When the Midway Monsters take to the U.S. Bank Stadium turf in Minneapolis for their rematch with the Minnesota Vikings—who they hosted on opening night at Soldier Field—this iteration of the Bears will have ten games under their belt.
By the time an NFL team hits ten-game mark—to paraphrase the late, lamented coach Denny Green—we know what we think they are.
And hopefully they’ll be a team that can put up some points, because, newsflash, Vikes superstar receiver Justin Jefferson is good at finding end zones.
That being the case, the Bears will have to light some offensive fireworks in Week 11. Which skill players will do just that?
Some quick math tells us that this is the 11th entry of our 2025 statistical predictions series, and in approximately 1/3rd of them, I’ve prognosticated that the Bears’ leading rusher during the game in question isn’t yet on Chicago’s roster.
And that’s exactly what I’ll do here. Again.
Listen, head coach Ben Johnson relied on a split backfield of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery when he was coordinating Detroit’s offense, and there’s little reason to think he’ll change up the concept.
Thing is, if D’Andre Swift is Gibbs, who’s Montgomery?
Roschon Johnson? Nah. Kyle Monangai? Nah. Travis Homer? Definitely nah.
But Nick Chubb? J.K. Dobbins? For a team with postseason aspirations, that tracks.
So up in Minny, Chicago’s free-agent-RB2-in-waiting will go off for 100-plus yards and a receiving tuddy.
In his last three games against Minnesota, D.J. Moore saw 27 targets.
He caught 25 of them. And it all added up to 266 yards.
Moore’s 2023 performance in Minny was a veritable masterpiece, in which he grabbed 11 of 13 targets for 114 yards.
Point being, dude likes facing the purple-and-yellow. And he’ll like it even more when he drops 100 yards on the Vikings for the third time in his career.
Cole Kmet has to go off at some point in the 2025 season, right? I mean, he’s a skilled, albeit not great player, and Ben Johnson likes to feed all of his TEs, and football physics would dictate that eventually—eventually—the Notre Dame product will outplay rookie Colston Loveland.
But it won’t be in Week 11.
By mid-November, quarterback Caleb Williams will have adopted Loveland as his official 2025 Security Blanket, and facing a persistent Vikes rush, blankets will be necessary. Look for Loveland to top 75 yards, while Kmet manages just 20.
But since I’m feeling generous, I’ll give Cole a touchdown.
