The Vikings (7-9) were eliminated from contention with last week's loss at Green Bay. They will finish the schedule against the Chicago Bears (6-10), who were essentially out of it by mid-November and mathematically dismissed from the race by losing at home to Minnesota on Dec. 20.

For all the sweat poured into intense offseason workouts and repetitive summer practices and all the time spent on film review and playbook implementation, a three-hour game will always carry a reward for the players who suit up.

This is the fifth time in six years at U.S. Bank Stadium that the Vikings have finished the season at home against the Bears. Both teams were also eliminated ahead of time in 2016. In 2019, the Bears were out and the Vikings were locked into their seed for the playoffs.

The Vikings won in 2017 to clinch a first-round bye, with the Bears already done. The highest stakes were in 2018, when the Vikings would have been a wild-card team with a win. The Bears beat them 24-10 despite having already clinched the NFC North.

The Bears were planning to start rookie Justin Fields at quarterback, but he landed on COVID-19 reserve on Thursday. Fields, who is 2-8 as the starter this season, missed the last two games with an ankle injury suffered Dec. 20 in the previous matchup against Minnesota.

Bears outside linebacker Robert Quinn broke Pro Football Hall of Fame member Richard Dent's club record last week with his 18th sack of the season. That was also the 100th of his career. Quinn has had quite the bounce-back year at age 31, just one short of his career high for sacks that was set in 16 games in 2013 with the St. Louis Rams.