Minnesota Vikings Surprise Chicaogo Bears In 23-20 Comeback Victory
By Sarita Kelly
With luck largely on their side, the Minnesota Vikings upset the Chicago Bears in an crazy back and fourth slug fest game. With this game Minnesota is potentially delivering a potential knockout blow to the Bears and their playoff hopes with this dramatic comeback victory at the Metrodome 23-20.
Dec 1, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh (3) celebrates his field goal during overtime against the Chicago Bears at Mall of America Field at H.H.H. Metrodome. The Vikings defeated the Bears 23-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Blair Walsh’s 34-yard field goal with 1:43 remaining in overtime ended a wild back-and-forth slugfest that featured 976 combined yards of offense.
Walsh bailed out Rhett Ellison, whose facemask penalty negated what would have been Walsh’s 39-yard game winner earlier in overtime. Walsh eventually missed from 57 yards. But Bears kicker Robbie Gould also missed from 47 yards on Chicago’s next possession.
Bears Quarterback Josh McCown picked apart Minnesota’s pass defense for 355 yards — including a Bears’ record 249 to wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.
Christian Ponder was a measly 3-for-8 for 40 yards and three sacks. He was lost to a concussion late in the second quarter with the Vikings leading 7-6.
And that brought backup Matt Cassel back into the fold. Cassel helped erase a 10-point deficit in the fourth-quarter when he threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings and Walsh converted a 30-yard field goal with 20 seconds remaining to force overtime.
Minnesota (3-8-1) won its first NFC North game and just its second home game of the season. The Bears (6-6) lost a crucial game today are now one game behind Detroit in the NFC North although the Lions already have defeated the Bears twice.
Running back Adrian Peterson rushed for 211 yards, this makes it Peterson’s fifth game of 200-plus yards. He also hit a milestone when he eclipsed 10,000 yards in his 101 games, that makes him the third-fastest player to reach the milestone behind Jim Brown and Eric Dickerson.
Up next for the Vikings is the Baltimore Ravens at noon on December 8th. You can watch the game on FOX or listen at KFAN-FM 100.3.