So things are a mess in Minnesota, right? Try again.

The Vikings will enter Sunday's game against the Bears at Soldier Field with a chance to take the NFC North lead and move one game above .500 entering their bye week.

Fan frustrations aside - the fact the Vikings had to rally for a last-second 12-10 victory over a woeful Detroit team last Sunday did not help matters - Minnesota has won two in a row and three of its past four. Not bad for a club that started 0-2.

This isn't to say the Vikings' victories have been pretty by any means. A quick look at the statistics of the Detroit win will confirm that. But Childress isn't about to quibble with the fact his team won a game.

"That's a good win," Childress said, making it clear he wasn't about to give it back.

A victory on Sunday would put the Vikings at 4-3 and the Bears at 3-4. The Packers, who also enter Sunday tied for the NFC North lead at 3-3, will play host to Indianapolis.

The Vikings are 1-1 at Soldier Field since Childress took over in 2006, winning 34-31 in Chicago last season. Ryan Longwell, who has won the past two games for the Vikings with last-second field goals to beat New Orleans and the Lions, did the same in that instance by connecting on a 55-yarder as time expired.

But the story of that game was Peterson's 224-yard rushing performance. He set a Vikings' single-game mark that he would break three contests later when he rushed for an NFL record 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers.

In order for the Vikings to be successful this time, Peterson is going to need to do a better job with ball security than he did last Sunday. Peterson lost the football twice, including once when the Vikings were deep in Detroit territory.

The Vikings also will continue to try to loosen up things for Peterson with their passing game. Still inconsistent, Minnesota has been getting more big plays of late from the combination of quarterback Gus Frerotte and wide receiver Bernard Berrian.

Berrian signed a big free-agent contract with the Vikings this offseason to leave the Bears, and this will be his first trip back to Solider Field as an opponent.

He had a career-high 71 receptions and 951 yards last year. Despite being bothered by toe and knee injuries in recent weeks, Berrian has put together back-to-back 100-yard receiving games for the Vikings the past two weeks.

Berrian also has two touchdown receptions in the last two games, including an 86-yarder against the Lions.

SERIES HISTORY: 94th regular-season meeting. Vikings lead regular-season series, 50-41-2, and are 21-23-2 against the Bears on the road. The Vikings have won five of the past 10 games against the Bears and 11 of the past 20.