Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings: Everything you need to know about the Week 18 game before the last kickoff of the season

The 3-13 Chicago Bears will play the 12-4 Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field in a Week 18 matchup. Here’s what you need to know the last kickoff of the season (noon, FOX).

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Bears players are going to be focused on winning. But with QB Justin Fields not playing, the focus for many fans will be how the Bears can land the highest draft pick possible.

If the Bears lose to the Vikings and the 2-13-1 Houston Texans beat the Indianapolis Colts, the Bears would get the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft. If the Bears and the Texans lose, the Texans will pick No. 1 and the Bears No. 2.

And if the Bears win, they could drop to No. 3 or 4, depending on whether the Arizona Cardinals or Denver Broncos — both 4-12 — lose.

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The Bears had just lost by 31 points to a division rival, one of what would become 13 losses in the season. In the Chicago Tribune the next day, the Bears coach was quoted as calling it “one of the darkest and dreariest days in Bear history.”

A little more than 53 years later, the Bears again lost to a division rival by 31 points, the 13th loss of the season.

The current coach wasn’t as dramatic as the former, but he was quoted in the Tribune as saying, “It doesn’t sit well.”

The first coach was Jim Dooley, whose 1969 Bears went 1-13. One of those losses was a 31-0 beating by the Vikings at Wrigley Field, after which Dooley proclaimed himself “bitterly disappointed.” The second was Matt Eberflus, whose current Bears lost 41-10 to the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Ford Field to drop to 3-13.

Eberflus wasn’t born yet when Dooley’s team lost that October 1969 game, but the coaches are connected by an unfortunate distinction. Along with John Fox’s 2016 Bears, their teams hold the record for the most losses in franchise history, a record the current Bears could break Sunday against the Vikings in the season finale at Soldier Field.

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Virginia McCaskey turned 100 years old Thursday, a milestone birthday for the Bears owner. And her passion for the team has not dissipated. Matt Eberflus recalled Wednesday the first phone conversation he had with McCaskey a little less than a year ago when he became the organization’s 18th head coach with an important blessing.

“She said, ‘Matt, you know I’ll be your biggest fan,’ ” Eberflus said. “(She is) always encouraging, always upbeat, always thoughtful. It’s been a joy to get to know her this last year.”

That’s a sentiment shared by so many who have crossed McCaskey’s path and come to recognize her competitiveness, belief and charm.

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