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Minnesota Vikings come from behind, take down Bears

By Drew Mahowald

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The Minnesota Vikings played some pretty bad football for 55 minutes on Sunday against the Chicago Bears. In fact, the Vikings offense was only able to register six points through those first 55 minutes of play. However, the Vikings were able to generate two scoring drives in those final five minutes come from behind and take down the Bears by a score of 23-20.

After a 55-yard field goal from Bears kicker Robbie Gould opened the scoring, the Vikings got a lift from their special teams unit when Marcus Sherels took a punt return 65 yards for a touchdown to give the Vikings a 7-3 lead. The lead would stand for the remainder of the first quarter.

To begin the second quarter, the Vikings maintained a solid drive into Bears territory, but the offense sputtered once it got there (to nobody’s surprise). A 43-yard field goal from Blair Walsh increased Minnesota’s lead to 10-3.

Later in the quarter, Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller intercepted a pass by Teddy Bridgewater and the Bears were set up with great field position at the Minnesota 34-yard line. Three plays later, Jay Cutler found Alshon Jeffery in the back of the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown to tie things up at 10-10 going into the half.

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The only scoring in the third quarter came off the foot of Gould, as he converted a 33-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half. On this drive, Bears star running back Matt Forte was injured after he was hit by Harrison Smith and he did not return to the game, which proved to be a huge loss for Chicago.

After another Blair Walsh field goal early in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 13, the Bears embarked on a 14-play, 74-yard drive that consumed 8:28 of game time. The drive ended with Cutler scrambling for a four-yard touchdown to give Chicago a 20-13 lead with five minutes remaining.

From that point on, it was all Vikings.

“Two-minute Teddy” led the Vikings on a 7-play, 84-yard drive in just three minutes that ended with this 40-yard touchdown from rookie sensation Stefon Diggs.

The Vikings were able to force a Bears three-and-out thanks in large part to Forte’s backup, Jeremy Langford, dropping a pass on third down that would’ve resulted in a first down for the Bears. Instead, the Bears punted and the Vikings took over at their own 34-yard line with a minute to go.

Hey, do you guys remember Charles Johnson? You know, that guy who had seven catches all season going into today?

Well, he made the game-changing play for the Vikings on Sunday, as he reached up and made a fantastic contested catch down the right sideline for a 35-yard gain that moved the Vikings into prime field goal range for Walsh.

Despite his shaky preseason, Walsh continued his excellent regular season by converting a 36-yard field goal as time expired to give the Vikings the huge road win over the Bears, 23-20.

Quick Takeaways

— This is a big time win for the Vikings. Playoff teams win games like this on the road against division opponents. Additionally, the Vikings were nowhere near their best today and were still able to squeeze out a win. Both of those points say a lot about this team and about what Mike Zimmer has done as head coach these last two seasons.

— Teddy Bridgewater’s accuracy has been underwhelming this season, and especially today. However, he does a lot of things very well, and he does everything well under pressure. Just look at these stats. When it matters most, Bridgewater steps up.

— The running game was much more effective today, thanks in large part to two things — 1) The offensive line was able to get a good push often and open holes for Adrian Peterson and 2) Peterson was much more decisive with the ball.

— I swear I saw Alshon Jeffery catch an eight-yard hitch route about 78 times today. I’m not sure if the Vikings just refused to pick up on it or what, but that play was successful for the Bears all day long. I’m just glad they didn’t run it on their final drive late in the fourth quarter.

— Linval Joseph and Captain Munnerlyn are two guys on this defense that aren’t getting the recognition they deserve. Both of them are playing extremely well this season after each having disappointing 2014 seasons.

Onward

Next week, the Vikings will host the St. Louis Rams at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Check with us throughout the week at Sporting Sota for analysis leading up to that game. Until then, Skol!

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