Vikings-Bears

Well, that was disappointing. The Chicago Bears defeated the Minnesota Vikings with a dominant defensive performance, 16-6. It's disappointing that the Vikings' two disappointing losses on the season are to division opponents, the Packers in Week 2 and now the Bears. Both games were on the road. The Vikings must take the home games against both.

The Vikings played well on defense. They didn't play well on offense. They just couldn't get anything going against the Bears defense until a late touchdown. That lone touchdown came on a 13-play 92-yard drive. That's some nice production. Unfortunately, they finally got into the end zone with less than three minutes to play. Even more unfortunately, the Vikings offense did nothing with the ball when the defense forced the Bears to punt 25 seconds later. But that was how the loss ended. This loss started much earlier.

This was a defensive battle throughout. The Bears won because their offense got a touchdown on their first possession and they managed to manufacture enough offense, often due to their defense, to tack on three field goals. They turned two Vikings fumbles into two of those field goals. The second of those fumbles was on the first play from scrimmage of the second half. Khalil Mack, a menace the entire game, did his usual Khalil Mack stuff. He hit Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins as he was about to throw. Sack, fumble, Nick Williams had the easy part of falling on the ball. It was Bears ball on the Vikings 16. The Bears offense lost four yards on their three plays and kicked a field goal. The Bears would've been more productive if they had kicked the field goal on first down.

In a game in which possessions were few, the Vikings gave the ball away twice and the Bears turned those extra possessions into two field goals.

The Cousins fumble put the Vikings in a bad way but it might've been the first fumble of the day that truly turned the game the Bears way. The Vikings offense had something going on their second possession of the game. They started on their own 5-yard line. Some stupid Bears penalties kept the drive alive and helped the Vikings along as they were sitting pretty at 1st-and-10 on the Chicago 44-yard line. Cousins threw a 10-yard slant to Stefon Diggs with some room to run. As Diggs was tucking the ball away, Bears corner Prince Amukamara made enough contact to knock the ball loose. Bears safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix picked up the ball but the play was whistled over. The officials on the field ruled it an incomplete pass. It looked like an incomplete pass live. It looked like an incomplete pass on replay. The Bears challenged the call. Replay reviews have been a flip of the coin in the NFL this year. Head of officials Alberto Riveron has a random interpretation of reality. He overturned the call on the field. The Bears were given the ball on their own 20-yard line, the site that Clinton-Dix scooped up the incomplete pass. The Bears and their fans likely feel like they were robbed as Clinton-Dix had a lot of room for a return. They were actually handed a gift when they were given the ball. The Bears used up the remaining 6:36 of the half as they drove 72 yards for a half-ending field goal, and a 10-0 lead.

There were only five possessions in the first half. The Vikings had two. The Bears had three. Those 30 first half minutes felt like they were over in 10 minutes. The Vikings gained 28 yards on their first possession. They gained 61 yards on their second possession. Until the late touchdown drive those two first half possessions were their most productive of the game. This game became the Bears game on consecutive Vikings' offensive plays. Their last play of the first half resulted in Riveron taking the ball from them. Their first play of the second half was dismantled by Mack. Those two plays turned a 7-0 Bears lead into a 13-0 Bears lead. That two score lead forced the Vikings into something resembling a desperate offense. So desperate that they felt forced to go for it on 4th-and-4 on their own 31-yard line with 1:49 to play in the third quarter. That's pretty desperate. That desperate situation produced the best offensive play of  the game. Cousins shocked the Bears and hit Diggs down the sideline for 39 yards to the Bears 30-yard line. The Vikings are coming back and making a game of it. From their best field position of the game, the Vikings preceded to lose five yards on a penalty, lose one yard on a pass to Dalvin Cook, and then lose 20 yards on a sack, fumble, bumble,  and recovery. They might not have avoided another turnover but the Vikings had wrecked their first real scoring opportunity. They had moved from 1st-and-10 on the Bears 30-yard line to 3rd-and-35 on their own 45-yard line in a blink. It was that sort of game.

While the Vikings defense played well most of the game their biggest challenge might've started about three minutes into the game. That was when Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky injured his shoulder on the sixth play of the game. On 3rd-and-4 from the Bears 43-yard line, Danielle Hunter sacked Trubisky and forced a fumble that was recovered by Everson Griffen. It looked like the Vikings had the first big break of the game as the defense gave the ball to their offense on the Bears 33-yard line. Unfortunately, Vikings safety Anthony Harris was called for holding on the play. The Bears kept the ball but they lost their quarterback. This injury is no doubt a blow to the Bears for however long Trubisky is out but it might've helped the Bears in this game. With his ability to scramble and run, Trubisky is a very particular quarterback for which a defense has to prepare. His ability to move, within the pocket and out, has been a real problem for the Vikings defense. Perhaps the only problem. His arm has rarely tormented them much. Chase Daniel took over at quarterback. He isn't the run-pass combo that Trubisky is but he might be the better passer. The Vikings spent all week preparing for Trubisky. Now Chase Daniel is back there. The Bears offense changed, the game changed. For that reason, it's really no surprise that the Bears lone touchdown came on this possession. Throughout the drive the Vikings defense looked out of sorts as they adjusted to a new quarterback on the fly. After that drive, the Bears offense managed 194 yards to the Vikings' robust total of 222.

There was a lot of honking prior, during, and after the game about the Bears being without defensive tackle Akiem Hicks and linebacker Roquan Smith. This defense was suffocating because of the freakish strength, speed, and athletic ability of Khalil Mack. That's not to take anything away from the talents of the Bears' players that stepped in for Hicks. Players like Nick Williams and Roy Robertson-Harris are solid players. But everything is easier for those players when so damn much attention needs to applied to Mack. On a few occasions, the Vikings had left guard Pat Elflein help left tackle Riley Reiff try to slow Mack. It didn't. That extra attention paid to one player rushing from the outside opened up the middle for the Bears linemen and linebackers to stroll up the middle. Pedestrian players would've made an impact. Williams and Robertson-Harris are much better than pedestrian. Mack is a menace and the Vikings have to figure out a way to handle him, at least handle him better than they did yesterday, when the Bears come to Minnesota in Week 17. Jon Gruden will never be forgiven for giving Khalil Mack to the Bears. He's the sort of player a team builds around. He's not the sort of player a team trades for parts.

It was a very disappointing game. It's not the end of the season. At 2-2, the Vikings are a game behind the division teams that gave them those two losses. They play each team again. In Minnesota. The Vikings have to win those games. For now, it's on to New York and the Giants in Week 5.