Bears Move Up "Stunned" Vikings

There should be some added interest in future Bears-Vikings games after the last draft.

A report by ESPN Vikings writer Courtney Cronin said Minnesota was gearing up to select quarterback Justin Fields in the first round and even sought to move up and ensure they could get him.

Instead, they settled for taking quarterback Kellen Mond in Round 3, which kind of leads to an embarrassing moment for NBC analyst Chris Simms because last week he ranked Mond ahead of Justin Fields. Even the team that took Mond wasn't going that far.

The report said the Vikings were "stunned" when the Bears traded up from No. 20 and selected Fields.

The Vikings also tried to call around and determine where they might need to move up to in order to ensure they could get Fields as he was going past Carolina and Denver at Nos. 8 and 9. The Bears chose Fields at No. 11.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins remains Minnesota's starter but the Vikings were reported to have given him a call before the draft to let him know they could be taking a quarterback.

Normally teams don't make calls of this type to tell someone they're taking a quarterback in the third round because quarterbacks after the first two rounds only rarely become starters these days. So they were obviously looking at Fields.

There have been 29 quarterbacks drafted after the second round since the 2017 draft and Gardner Minshew is the only one to become his team's regular starter. And now he won't be the starter for Jacksonville.

The reports cited a source claiming the Vikings were also considering tackle Rashawn Slater in Round 1 at No. 14 but couldn't get him, either, because the Los Angeles Chargers took him at 13.

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