Vikings Stumble to Ugly 17-9 Victory Over Bumbling Bears on Monday Night Football
The Vikings aren't going to feel particularly proud of their effort on Monday night in Chicago. They averaged 3.2 yards per play, committed seven penalties, and at one point gained single-digit yards on eight of nine drives. It was an incredibly sloppy performance by their offense.
But in the end, the Vikings' defense and the Bears' overall ineptitude were enough for Minnesota to leave Soldier Field with a much-needed 17-9 victory that keeps their playoff hopes alive. If the Eagles beat Washington on Tuesday night, the Vikings will be back in the No. 7 spot in the NFC postseason picture.
If they were playing just about anyone else, the story of this game is probably a horrific Vikings loss that ends their season and potentially cements Mike Zimmer's firing. That's how bad they were in this game. The Vikings couldn't crack 200 yards of offense, picked up just 13 first downs in the entire game, and essentially did nothing for the final 1.5 quarters of the game after taking a 17-3 lead.
The Vikings did all that they could to turn this into yet another one-score affair, perhaps even another game decided on the final play, but the Bears' incompetence prevented that from happening. Chicago had seven drives that got to at least the Vikings' 31-yard line, six of which got to at least the 21, and came away with just three total points until a meaningless touchdown on the final play.
That last-second touchdown, by the way, means 13 of the Vikings' 14 games this season have been decided by eight points or fewer. The all-time record for such games is 14, and Minnesota still has three left to play.
The statistics from this game make it hard to believe the Vikings won if you didn't actually watch it happen. The Bears outgained the Vikings 370 to 193, had 24 first downs to their 13, and averaged 5.3 yards per play to their 3.2.
Kirk Cousins finished 12 of 24 for a career-low 87 passing yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and four sacks. He's just the third quarterback since 2000 to have fewer than 90 passing yards on at least 24 attempts in a victory. Dalvin Cook managed 91 yards from scrimmage, but they came on 30 touches as the Vikings were mauled by Akiem Hicks, Robert Quinn and company in the trenches. Justin Jefferson seemed like a lock to get at least 68 receiving yards against a Bears secondary missing all four starters — that's how many yards he needed to break the NFL record for receiving yards in a player's first two seasons — but managed just four catches for 47 yards and a TD on ten targets.
Make no mistake, the Vikings barely earned this. They won because Chicago imploded time and time again throughout the evening. The Bears lost three fumbles, committed nine penalties, and executed terribly on offense in big spots. Simply put, they looked like an awful, undisciplined team — albeit one missing a ton of important players — that has given up on its head coach.
The Vikings showed a little bit of life early in the game, moving the ball and opening the scoring on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to Jefferson midway through the first quarter. A Cameron Dantzler forced fumble then set the Vikings up for a field goal that pushed them out to a 10-0 lead early in the second.
It turned out that those would be all the points they'd need.
The Bears' offense was unbelievably bad in Vikings territory. Fumbles, penalties, strange playcalls, drops, and all kinds of mistakes hurt them as they whiffed on scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity. They actually moved the ball fairly well for most of the night, but were unable to put points on the scoreboard. Credit the Vikings' defense for coming up big when they needed to: D.J. Wonnum had a career day with three sacks, Sheldon Richardson shined with a forced fumble that he also recovered, and Patrick Peterson broke up potential touchdown passes on consecutive plays at one point.
The bottom line is that the Vikings will take this win however they can get it — they kept their season alive, and that's all that matters. But with the Rams and Packers next up on the schedule, they're going to have to play significantly better football if they want to keep winning and make a run to the playoffs.
Quick notes
- Special teams played a big role in this game. The Bears missed a field goal and also muffed a punt after their starting punt returner got hurt.
- Eric Kendricks was ejected in the second half for a late hit to the helmet of a sliding Justin Fields. It was an uncharacteristic mistake by the veteran.
- With Adam Thielen and Dede Westbrook out, Ihmir Smith-Marsette caught the first touchdown pass of his NFL career to extend the Vikings' lead in the third quarter. Justin Jefferson drew three Bears defenders on the play.
- Kene Nwangwu had back-to-back carries of 19 and 11 yards in the first half, showing some impressive ability as a running back with Alexander Mattison on the COVID list.
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