MONTREAL -- Fresh from a big CONCACAF Champions League win, the Montreal Impact hope to carry that momentum into an important Major League Soccer matchup in Chicago. Newcomer Hernan Bernardello was strong in his Impact debut as Montreal beat the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 on Wednesday night at Saputo Stadium in their first Champions League game in five years. The Impact, however, have just one win in their last seven MLS games, including a 3-1 loss in Washington, D.C., last Saturday. Now that Montreal is on the right track in the tournaments group stage, midfielder Patrice Bernier hopes that solid effort will continue against the Fire on Saturday night. "Its a boost for the teams morale and confidence," Bernier said. "It was a solid game and we needed to get back to basics and now we have that good base to attack the MLS every game. All of the games count all the time but now that the standings are so tight we know that we have to get our points." Those points have been hard to come by lately for the Impact. Montreal has six points in its last seven games (1-3-3), three of those coming in a 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City on July 27 when substitute Blake Smith scored in stoppage time. The skid has dropped the Impact out of the Eastern Conference lead to third place, with a 10-6-5 mark and 35 points in 21 games. Montreal trails first-place New York by three points and second-place Kansas City by one, but the Impact hold two games in hand on both teams. "Were going to Chicago, a team thats playing well and they have the offensive abilities that make the difference so were heading there with clear heads and ready to attack and come out of there with as many points as possible," Bernier said. The Fire, who have also played 21 games, have climbed to seventh in the East after struggling to a 2-7-1 start that included a 2-0 loss in Montreal on Apr. 27. In contrast to the Impact, Chicago enters riding a hot streak in MLS play but is coming off a disappointing loss Wednesday night. The Fire were eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup following a 2-0 semifinal loss to D.C. United at Toyota Park. "I think at this point theyre a different team, were a different team," Fire assistant coach Mike Matkovich said. "Theyre in the same boat as us so its just going to be a matter of digging down deep and getting through this game and weve got to find a way to get points. Chicagos season turned around after they acquired Mike Magee from Los Angeles on May 24. "Theyve started slow this year but theyre a talented team," said Impact forward Justin Mapp, who played for the Fire from 2003-10. "I know some of their players and the addition of Mike Magee certainly helped them and theyve kind of caught their stride. Theyve had a number of good results in the last number of games. Its a tough place to play." Magee, who leads the MLS with 14 goals, came to Chicago in the trade that sent the rights to Robbie Rogers to the Galaxy. Rogers became the first openly gay man to play for a top-level North American pro sports team when he made his L.A. debut on May 27. While that milestone made headlines, the Fires acquisition of Magee paid immediate dividends. He has scored eight goals in 10 league games with Chicago, including each one in each of his last three games. The Fire are undefeated over that stretch with two wins and a draw, including a 2-1 win in Philadelphia. Chicago is coming off the U.S. Open Cup loss though, and midfielder Logan Pause is not putting a lot of stock into the Impacts recent MLS struggles. "Theyre a dangerous team," Pause said. "They won the Canadian championship and theyre playing in CONCACAF. Theyre a good team from Di Vaio all the way down. 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Three weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings were unbeaten and appeared to be the class of the NFC.Minnesota hosts the Detroit Lions on Sunday looking to just stay on top of the NFC North, and will do so with a new offensive coordinator.The past two weeks, in which the Vikings (5-2) scored 20 total points and averaged 270 yards of offense in two losses, has taken the shine off Minnesota coach Mike Zimmers Super Bowl-hopeful bunch.As the Vikings were getting set to prepare for Detroit (4-4), Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner resigned on Monday. Zimmer said he was very, very surprised by the move.He has helped me tremendously in the three years that Ive been here, Zimmer said. He has had an unbelievable career. He has been, really, my right-hand man, really, since Ive been here, and he decided it was in the best interest of him to do this, and I accept the reasons; and they are personal.Behind a faltering offensive line, the Vikings have the leagues second-worst offense. Minnesota is 31st in the NFL in average yards per game (293.3) and yards per play (4.6). The offense has averaged 19.9 points per game, tied for 23rd in the league.Tight ends coach Pat Shurmur is the interim offensive coordinator and will call the plays. Shurmur does have experience with quarterback Sam Bradford, who came to the Vikings in a trade right before the regular season began. Shurmur was the offensive coordinator and interim head coach in Philadelphia last year with Bradford, and the two were together in St. Louis as well.I think hes a great football mind, Bradford said. Really just looking forward to sitting down and talking to him and trying to figure out the direction in which were going to go...Halfway through the season, Im not really sure if you can completely change an offense and the terminology for everyone.Offense hadnt been a concern for the Lions, at least until Sundays loss at Houston. Detroit had 289 yards of offense, its second-lowest output of the season in a 20-13 loss. The 13 points were a season low even as the Lions welcomed back tight end Eric Ebron and running back Theo Riddick.Ebron returned after missing three games with ankle and kneee injuries and had seven catches for a team-high 79 yards receiving.dddddddddddd. Riddick had missed two games with an ankle injury and had 56 yards rushing and 77 yards receiving with a touchdown against Houston.We just hurt ourselves, Ebron told the teams website. Penalties, we just hurt ourselves. Every game weve lost, weve hurt ourselves. So, weve got to, just got to clean up our act and win.Protecting Matthew Stafford will be an important factor against Minnesotas second-ranked defense. Stafford was sacked eight times in two losses to the Vikings last season.Thats what theyre known for, its what theyre really good at, Stafford told the teams website of the Vikings blitz packages. The last two times we played these guys we were a little different schematically than we are now.Well be able to take a look at them this week, study them hard and work to try and find solutions that will fit us.Detroit will also need to bring the pressure against Bradford, who has been sacked 11 times the past two weeks.Its something that I would like to see go down, Bradford said of the number of times he has been hit. I dont think its a positive thing. I dont think its a good thing. I think weve got to figure out a way to bring that number down.The Lions made one change, as well, trying to help their 23rd-ranked defense by acquiring cornerback Johnthan Banks from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Banks was a college teammate of Detroit cornerback Darius Slay at Mississippi State and the two were second-round draft picks in 2013.Banks will try to resurrect his career in a new spot.Meanwhile, Minnesota is trying to prove its season isnt slipping away.I do think that we hit a rough spot in the season and we need to get back on track, Zimmer said. So, unfortunately this is just some of the things that go on over the course of a season. Obviously, the season is a long time and not everything is going to go smooth, as Ive found out over the three years. So, well just keep trying to do the things we have to do to continue to get better. ' ' '