The first Monday Night Football game of the 2025 NFL season gives us an NFC North clash featuring the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears. Kickoff on September 8 comes from Soldier Field and is set for 8:15 p.m. ET; the game will be broadcast on ABC and ESPN.
Our NFL experts are all over Vikings-Bears on MNF with player props for three standout players: Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland and Jordan Mason.
Let's dive into my Vikings vs Bears player props for Monday Night Football.
Vikings vs Bears Player Props
- Rome Odunze Over 49.5 Receiving Yards (-113 at DraftKings)
- Colston Loveland Over 27.5 Receiving Yards (-115 at DraftKings)
- Colston Loveland Anytime Touchdown (+390 at FanDuel)
- Jordan Mason Anytime Touchdown (+185 at DraftKings)
Vikings vs Bears Prop Picks, Preview
Rome Odunze Over 49.5 Receiving Yards (-113; DraftKings)
When Ben Johnson was confirmed as the Bears' new head coach, there was real optimism around Caleb Williams and what this would mean for the sophomore signal caller, but there's another second-year Bear that could also benefit from the arrival of the man who turned the Lions' offense into a juggernaut, and that's Rome Odunze.
A 734-yard, three-touchdown season isn't what you expect when you take a receiver ninth overall, just as the Bears did with their second top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
However, Odunze was hamstrung both with Williams' play and the two OCs that the Bears had in '24.
We saw the talent when Odunze came out of college, and there's no reason to believe that has left him.
Looking at Johnson's Lions offense, you can project Odunze as potential Amon-Ra St. Brown type of player. Expect a strong start from the second-year WR.
Pick: Rome Odunze Over 49.5 Receiving Yards (-113 at DraftKings)
Colston Loveland Over 27.5 Receiving Yards (-115; DraftKings)
Much of this offseason in Chicago has been spent discussing, just like I did above, who, if anyone, will take up the St. Brown role for Johnson's Bears.
What has gone slightly under the radar is the role of the tight end and the huge potential that Colston Loveland has. Brock Bowers' rookie season was an anomaly, but it's more than possible that Loveland could be a top-10, if not top-five TE this season.
In the two years that he worked with Johnson after being drafted, we saw Sam LaPorta average 48.4 receiving yards per game and get an average of 6.2 yards per game.
It's a risky business to project the Bears offense to be exactly like what we saw from Detroit, but it does go to show the importance of the tight end in Johnson's system.
Pick: Colston Loveland Over 27.5 Receiving Yards (-115 at DraftKings)
Colston Loveland Anytime Touchdown (+390; FanDuel)
I am doubling down on the former Michigan tight end and backing Loveland to find the end zone in his NFL debut.
Firstly, if we continue to compare Loveland to LaPorta's role in Detroit, he was a real red-zone threat, scoring 19 touchdowns in 38 games, an exact ratio of one touchdown every other game.
The Bears are also stacked with weapons. While D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson are hardly Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, the WR corps of DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and Luther Burden certainly has the potential to exceed that of the Lions.
Loveland is a bigger price to score than any of those mentioned, bar Burden, and offers value at big odds.
Pick: Colston Loveland Anytime Touchdown (+390 at FanDuel)
Jordan Mason Anytime Touchdown (+185; DraftKings)
Finally, a Viking.
Our one play for this game on a Minnesota player comes by backing Jordan Mason to score a touchdown. This might seem crazy given the Vikings have Aaron Jones and Mason — who has only managed seven touchdowns in three years in the league — but there's reason to believe that he could be set for an expanded role in this Vikings offense.
Before his injury last year, Mason was excelling and was a top-10 ranked running back as a starter. That led to the Vikings trading for Mason and giving him a $12 million two-year deal.
Jones will still be the X-factor in the Vikings' ground game, but Mason is 20 pounds heavier and will be the battering ram complement to Jones' shiftiness.
Mason can be a real contributor on early downs and, most crucially, in the red zone. We can expect to see Mason on the field in short-yardage goal-line situations.
Pick: Jordan Mason Anytime Touchdown (+185 at DraftKings)
