Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears: A Victory That Was So Close But So Far Away

The Vikings lost to the Chicago Bears by one point Sunday—just one point. Not seven or ten just one.

What is worse than losing by one point? Well– it’s that we all knew the Vikings would lose; we just didn’t expect it to so close. Watching the game on Sunday was like wanting a bike on Christmas morning but getting dictionary instead.

The lead up was amazing but the disappointment was crushing.

To say the disappointment was bad for us would be an understatement. But for the Vikings— they felt it more. The saying you win and lose as team was pretty much the song that was sang by every player. Starting with the defense who did amazingly in the second half– But came apart on the last touchdown, were kicking themselves for coming apart at the very end when we needed them the most.

“We didn’t finish the game,” Kevin Williams said. “We had some busts out there. We can’t let guys run free. We’ve got to execute down the stretch. To hold them to no points (in the half) and then give up a touchdown, that hurts right there.”

Even Coach Leslie Frazier was stepping forward to take the blame with his own performance during that last Bears drive. “I’ve got to do a better job guiding our team in that last sequence,” Frazier said.

Adrian Peterson even expressed his regret with the offense’s lack of second-half production in the red zone. After being in the redzone twice in the fourth quarter, they only managed to get field goals from close range.

So he believed the offense was at fault.

“Man, that hurts,” Peterson said. “In those situations, offensively, we have to come through and make a big play. We weren’t able to do that today. We do that and we win. Simple as that.”

While we are taking this 0-2 start in Jared Allen probably said it best.

“They made one more play than we did,” he said. “That’s what it came down to.”

It was an extremely entertaining game. The kick returns, goal-line mishaps, interceptions and fumbles made this game an entertaining game to the bitter end for both teams. But with just about three minutes left, the Vikings appeared this close to leaving Chicago with a victory. But the Bears Jay Cutler went 66 yards in 10 plays to win.

Brian Robison unknowingly spoke for the fans, “It was a fun game to be a part of. It just sucks to be on the losing end of it.”

“There were some things we could have done differently strategically,” Frazier said right after the game.

Hindsight is always… you know. The second half of the game was owned by the Vikings. The wondrous Bears were falling apart at the seams and it seemed like the Vikings had this wrapped up. But out of nowhere the Bears came roaring back (pun intended) and killed any comeback the Vikings had done.

The game-winning touchdown came in dramatic fashion. With 10 seconds left, Cutler threw a 16-yard pass to Martellus Bennett. And the near perfect throw rained on our parade (pun still intended)

“We played great at times today. And at times we looked like we were all over the place again,” Kevin Williams said. “We’ve got to play a full game.”

We unexpectedly got what we expected. A loss to the Bears was expected, but the rollercoaster that followed was a ride that we won’t soon forget but many want to. As the faithful always say, “there is always next Sunday… against the Cleveland Browns.”