A deep dive on the Soldier Field curse

There's a reason that for years my least anticipated game on any Vikings schedule is at Chicago. Call it a hex, a curse, a fluke or whatever you want. These games have been torturous for damn near 2 decades now.

And after a reddit convo I figured I'd do a deeper dive into this whole thing. The results...may shock you!⚡

So we start in 2001. Prior to this the Vikings actually did fairly well in Chicago. They actually had a 5 game win streak there from 1996-2000. One more reason to retroactively love Dennis Green's tenure more.

But starting in 2001, in the 1st game after 9/11, oddly, all that changed. 18 seasons. The Vikings are 3-15 in Chicago(one game, also a loss, was at the University of Illinois). Now, in that time, the Bears only have 4 wins here in 17 tries themselves. I didn't check every single division rivalry, but I feel safe assuming this is the single most home friendly rivalry in the league.

There are matchups like Buffalo at New England, or Detroit at Green Bay that have been even more one-sided than Vikes at Bears, and there may be even others I'm unaware of. But the others can be easily chalked up to a really bad franchise consistently being owned by a really good franchise. Nobody would expect the Lions or Bills to win on the road in those matchups. And I'm not saying the 01-18 Vikings are on that level. They're not. But they have been quite a bit better cumulatively in the last 18 years than Chicago. They should not be 3-15.

The deeper dive into the respective teams that did buck the trends is what proves the existence of a hex/curse/whathaveyou.

The Bears have 4 playoff teams since 2001. The Vikings have 6. And obviously these numbers will change, maybe both. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these teams have not made the playoffs simultaneously since way back in 1994. They have only BOTH had winning records 3 times since 2001. So basically, when one of these teams is good, the other isn't.

However, the 4 Bears playoffs teams are 3-1 in Minnesota. The 6 Vikings playoff teams are 2-4 in Chicago. This looks even worse if you actually look at the games. The 3 Bears wins were all basically blowouts, including Favre's last game at TCF Bank Stadium. The only loss of the group was the final game in 2005, Tice's final game, where the Bears rested everybody cause they had already wrapped up their playoff position.

So when the Bears bring good teams to Minnesota they win. And do so decisively.

The good Vikings teams' 2-4 record in Chicago has a couple ugly losses in 2004 and 2012, the absurd 48-41 loss in 2008 when Gus Frerotte threw 4 picks, and worst of all the 2009 game where Brett Favre basically told Brad Childress to fuck off, took over the offense, led a furious rally to get the game to OT, and then saw Adrian fumble the ball away and Jay Cutler immediately dagger us with a winning TD strike. That loss only cost us home field advantage in our destiny season.
The 2 wins? Well they just happened in 2015 and 2017, but even getting those required a late rally in 2015 and last year when we led 3-2 at halftime and had to abandon all hope of Sam Bradford ever playing again. The 3rd win in 2007, for a non-playoff Vikings squad, only required Adrian Peterson having one of the most amazing games maybe in Vikings history. And even THAT one needed a 55 yard field goal at the gun.

So when the Vikings bring good teams to Chicago, they lose, and usually in horrible fashion.

I mean jesus, this is borderline Twins-Yankees shit. We've lost to Jim Miller, Chad Hutchinson, Rex Grossman(not even the good Rex), Kyle Orton and Mitch Trubusky. Adrian Peterson and Daunte Culpepper each celebrated just 1 win there. Jared Allen never did. Brett Favre's best season ever couldn't get us a win there.

I fucking hate that building!

None of this excuses this latest failure there. It may not even fit the narrative that much if the Vikings fall out of the playoffs. But even with the randomness football sometimes has, the fact we are only 1 win better in Chicago than the Bills have been in New England since this curse began has to be one of the most inexplicable recurring nightmares this franchise has ever cooked up.

Time to sacrifice a live chicken.