Bears know stopping Vikings is 'All Day' challenge

The good news for the Bears is that the worst of three games Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has played against them was at Minneapolis' Metrodome, the site of Sunday night's NFC North first-place showdown.

The bad news is that "All Day" still has 443 yards, 7 touchdowns and a 7.1-yard average on 62 carries against the Bears since entering the league last season.

Bears defensive coordinator Bob Babich was asked Thursday what keeps him awake at night when he thinks about the Vikings' defense, and he didn't have to think long.

"Adrian Peterson," Babich said. "They actually have a great combination between him and (Chester) Taylor. They really have an excellent running game. They do a great job with it, he's a great player, and they're a good football team. As a coach, you're always thinking of things that you could do better and things that can happen to you."

In two games at Soldier Field, Peterson is what happened to the Bears' defense. He's rushed for 365 yards and 2 touchdowns here, helping the Vikings score 75 points and split the games. Last year at the Metrodome, Peterson was held to 78 yards on 20 carries, although he still scored 2 touchdowns. But in his first game vs. the Bears, Peterson made an immediate and disturbing impression with 244 yards on just 20 carries and scored 3 touchdowns.

"I don't really want to look back at last year," Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said - and who could blame him? "The first game we played against us, he (whipped) us really well. The next game, even though he didn't do as well, he still ran the ball well."

It's no secret that the Bears will try to gang up on Peterson and the Vikings' No. 5 running game and take their chances that Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte won't beat them. The Bears picked off Frerotte four times in the 48-41 victory six weeks ago. The Vikings are No. 26 in passing yards, 28th in allowing interceptions and 26th in sacks allowed.

Peterson is second to the Redskins' Clinton Portis in rushing yards, with 1,180.

"For us, all 11 guys have got to attack to him," Ogunleye said of A.P.

"Wherever he gets the ball, he's got to feel us. (Even) if he's going down, we've got to try to hit him and not let him get any easy yards. He's the type of player that, if we give him a little bit of a hole, he'll skeet right now and run by our safeties. We've seen that. We'll be watching a lot of that film from last year, this year and everything he's been doing since he's been in the league."

Although Peterson had a below average game - for him - last year against the Bears at the Metrodome, he's actually more dangerous on field turf than grass.

His three most productive games this season have been at home, when he rushed for 160 yards against the Indianapolis Colts, 139 against the Houston Texans and 192 against the Green Bay Packers.

But the Bears' defense seems also to play better on artificial turf. In the four games they've held opponents under 300 yards, three of them have been on fake grass.

"It makes everyone faster," Smith said. "But just talking about it from our point of view, the way we're set up defensively, we're a quick team. We don't have a lot of big guys, so with our guys being able to plant and drive, you would have to think it would help us. So you look at how we've played inside; we've played well."