It's the most important game of the year so far and perhaps for the rest of the season. A win doesn't guarantee the Vikings will make the playoffs, but a loss could be devastating.

A victory on prime time in front of a national TV audience would move the 6-5 Vikings into sole possession of first place in the NFC North and would announce that the team is hot heading into December, just in time for a playoff run.

There's no overstating the importance of the game, and the Vikings' players know that the winner will emerge as the favorite to win the division.

"I think without a doubt," Vikings linebacker Ben Leber said. "That's the way everybody's kind of looking at it. Whoever wins this game really kind of controls the division."

The division winner is the only team that has a realistic chance to make the playoffs because of the way the NFC standings have unfolded. The Vikings don't want to lose this game for another key reason. A Chicago sweep in the season series would give the Bears a potential playoff tiebreaker.

The division race is so close that it's tough to say who's going to emerge as the champion, said John Madden, NBC's analyst working the game.

"I've always felt that you put yourself in a position by Thanksgiving to make a run from Thanksgiving on," Madden said. "I think it's really, obviously, to be determined. I think Minnesota is in a great position, but so is Chicago. And I don't necessarily think Green Bay is (eliminated)."

For the Vikings, the importance of this game runs even deeper.

Coach Brad Childress didn't lead his team to the playoffs in the first two years. Team owner Zygi Wilf bought him more talent in the offseason by adding receiver Bernard Berrian, defensive end Jared Allen and safety Madieu Williams.

But so far those moves haven't translated into a remarkable difference on the field in terms of the most important statistic of all: wins and losses.

And now the club goes in front of a national audience for the third time this season and for the eighth time under Childress. So far they're 3-4 since 2006 on Monday night, Sunday night and Thursday night.

Childress said the circumstances surrounding tonight's game make the atmosphere intense.

"You're playing a division team for the lead in the NFC North," Childress said. "You win it, like Lovie (Smith, Bears coach) said, you're exactly one game ahead, no more, no less, and then you've got to play on.

"Our guys know what's at stake. Just like they like playing on 'Monday Night Football,' because their peers watch, they like playing on Sunday night."

That prime-time performance includes a victory in Childress' debut with the team. The Vikings claimed a 19-16 victory at Washington on Sept. 11, 2006, against Redskins Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs when Ryan Longwell hit a game-winning field goal with a minute left.

But last year the Redskins got revenge by winning 32-21 at the Metrodome when they bottled up Adrian Peterson (27 rushing yards) and prevented the Vikings from clinching a playoff berth. Minnesota's winning streak ended at five in a row.

This year the Vikings lost the much-anticipated season opener on "Monday Night Football" at Green Bay 24-19 when Aaron Rodgers picked apart the defense and escaped without being sacked in Allen's debut.

Minnesota rebounded a month later at New Orleans, overcoming MVP candidate Drew Brees and two Reggie Bush punt returns to win 30-27 on another Longwell game-winner. That remains the only home loss of the season by the Saints.

"We've responded well in big games, and hopefully we respond well this weekend," Leber said. "We haven't made the games any bigger than what they are. The fact that they're on prime time, it's exciting, but once you get a few plays into the game, it's just a regular game and you've got to focus."

That was the worst game of the season, statistically, by Peterson, who had 32 rushing yards on 21 carries.

Cornerback Antoine Winfield picked up the Vikings early with his 59-yard touchdown return of a blocked field-goal attempt, one of many critical plays for Winfield this season.

That's the type of big play in front of a prime-time audience that can help a player earn recognition from others around the league when they vote on the Pro Bowl.

"If we wouldn't have played that game live on Monday night, I probably wouldn't be getting the attention that I'm getting now," Winfield said. "But of course you want to get out there and make a big play. Your whole family is watching, and most of the world and other coaches and players, and it's an important time because it's close to that Pro Bowl voting time."

Vikings safety Darren Sharper said the magnitude of the game is what's clearly at stake. The Bears have won three of the five meetings with the Vikings since 2006.

"I just think interconference games, everyone knows how important they are and how big they are," Sharper said. "It just so happens this game is on national TV, so everybody knows their family is back home watching. That might make for a little more motivation. But I think just the fact of who we're playing makes it for a big game."