Tonight, the Minnesota Vikings issued a formal statement saying they are committed to playing the game against the Bears in front of their fans in Minneapolis; this is totally understandable considering that they have already lost one home game and didn’t want to lose a second one — and also, if they were going to do the same thing they did this past week and play in Detroit, the stadium would no doubt be filled with Bears fans who could make the easy drive from Chicago; that would make it virtually a Bears home game.

Now, all the Vikings and the TCF Bank Stadium officials need to do is:

• clean literally tons of snow off the field and concourses with shovels, because using plows could damage the field;
  
  
• make sure water can flow into restrooms without freezing pipes;
  
  
• and, figure out how to squeeze 64,000 ticket holders into 50,000 seats; Ticketmaster’s sales page for the game indicates it is sold out.

Here is the complete statement from the Vikings regarding the game:

We are committed to playing Monday night’s game in Minnesota in front of our fans. With Mall of America Field at the Metrodome now unavailable, we have turned our full attention to the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium. We have been in close contact with the University and the NFL office since last weekend. Preparation of the stadium is fully underway and University officials have told us they will make every reasonable effort to ensure the stadium will be ready for Monday night. The league office is assisting our staff and the University to ensure the stadium is safe for our fans and meets the primary technical requirements for an NFL game. We appreciate the tremendous cooperation of the University of Minnesota and look forward to completing preparations for the game and turning this into a memorable experience for the State of Minnesota and Vikings fans.

More information will follow for those who hold tickets to the Vikings-Bears game.

Unlike last week’s game, which was shown on Fox affiliates originally committed to show the game, there’s no issue with TV, as this was already scheduled to be ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast; it will still air on that channel at 7:30 p.m. CST.