If you can't stop the Bears' offense, you don't belong in the playoffs
Vikings allowed Mitch Trubisky and David Montgomery to move the ball at will in loss to Chicago
One of the biggest storylines coming into Sunday’s matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears was the recent performance by Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky. He threw for 534 yards and four touchdowns with zero interceptions in games against the Lions and Texans.
The “yeah, but…” to his stellar showings was that they came against two of the worst defenses in the NFL. So the Vikings would have better luck than two bad teams, right? Well, no. Because the Vikings do not have a playoff-caliber defense either. And if you can’t even begin to slow down a quarterback who was benched earlier this year and has a career 87.0 quarterback rating in a must-win game, you don’t belong in the postseason.
With the Vikings’ loss to Trubisky and the Bears, ESPN estimates their playoff odds drop to 2%. Sunday’s L was an appropriate ending to “In The Hunt” talk because all the things that have haunted the Vikings’ defense in 2020 were at the forefront — along with some other persisting issues like key sacks, lack of early targets for Justin Jefferson/Adam Thielen and questionable in-game decisions.
Here’s a good way to summarize the defensive performance: The Bears, who ranked 25th in points per game entering Sunday, went three-and-out to start the game. They never punted or turned the ball over again until late in the fourth quarter.
Trubisky’s solid showing, which featured enough time in the pocket for him to start work on a novel, began on Chicago’s second drive. On third-and-3 at the Minnesota 32, the former first-rounder stepped into a throw with ease and found Allen Robinson for a 24-yard gain to get the Bears in scoring position.
Mike Zimmer’s run of head-scratching in-game decisions also began on that play. The instant replay showed Robinson either getting his toe down on the catch or being so close to it that it wouldn’t be overturned, yet he challenged and lost.
Trubisky ran a play-action on the next play for an easy touchdown.
At times the Vikings’ offense looked terrific. They shot right back with a 75-yard touchdown drive that needed just 4:15. Kirk Cousins finished the drive with an easy throw to wide open Adam Thielen.
No matter how well the Vikings’ offense moved the ball, any slipups caused them to fall behind. After holding the Bears to a field goal late in the first quarter, the Vikings opened the second quarter with Cousins getting sacked on third down.
The Vikings punted away and the Bears scored again. This time, Trubisky led a 13-play drive that ate up over seven minutes. During the drive, the Bears picked up big gains on a reverse and a Trubisky run and then when the Vikings actually got them to third-and-long, defensive lineman DJ Wonnum jumped offside. David Montgomery scored on third-and-1.
As good as the Vikings’ offense ended up being statistically, there were errors in a no-room-for-error game. Down 17-7, Cousins scrambled just short of a first down on third-and-long. At first the Vikings sent in the punt team and then they ran the offense back on the field only to fail on fourth-and-1. For whatever reason, they elected a pitch to Dalvin Cook to run behind their most struggling lineman.
Chicago’s offense was good but it wasn’t exactly Kansas City or Green Bay. They did the Vikings a favor by kicking a field goal on fourth-and-3 to take a 20-7 lead.
One drive after playing aggressively on fourth down, Zimmer got conservative. Cook steamrolled the Bears with a 20-yard run, Cousins scrambled for 11 and then Cook took the Vikings to the goal line with another explosive run. But Irv Smith Jr. dropped a pass in the end zone and the Vikings kicked a field goal from the 6-yard line.
Last week they settled for field goals and lost. This week they settled for field goals and lost. They only difference was that Dan Bailey made them this time.
Coming out of the half down by 10, the Vikings’ offense again put on an impressive display of efficiency against a Bears team that was down two starting corners (and terrified to bring safeties into the box out of fear that Jefferson would smoke them deep).
Cook broke out for 18. Jefferson caught a pass for 16. Cook ran for 11. Touchdown. When the Vikings’ offense was at its best, it was flat-out unstoppable. But so was Chicago’s offense.
Trubisky, who could have convinced you on Sunday that the Bears made a totally fine draft pick selecting him over Mahomes or Watson, responded with an 11-play touchdown drive to keep the lead at 10 points. Trubisky hit Montgomery for a 16-yard throw on a key third down and then found Anthony Miller for 13 yard on third-and-11. He did so without acquiring any bruises.
Montgomery missed the first game against the Vikings at Soldier Field in Week 10. He made up for it on Sunday with a 14-yard touchdown run.
Still the Vikings’ offense remained in the game. Cousins was on the mark on back-to-back deep throws that picked up 56 yards in an eyeblink.
But Zimmer once again played it safe after an incompletion on third-and-4 at the goal line, kicking another field goal and bringing the Vikings back within seven.
Tell me if this is starting to get repetitive: The Bears responded with a field goal to stay up by 10 points.
Turns out playing slow-and-steady-wins-the-race did not win the race. The Vikings used 5:28 of clock to travel 75 yards for another touchdown to make the score 30-27 Bears. Cousins capped the drive with a 20-yard throw to Tyler Conklin, who has made a strong case to be TE2 next year.
But they again could not stop Chicago’s offense. The Bears made it from their own 29 to the Vikings’ 6-yard line without requiring a third down and the lock drailed.
The entire Vikings’ hopes on defense have rested all year on third down and red zone stops. They didn’t get the former but they did pull out the latter.
It took nearly the entire game but Trubisky remembered that he was Trubisky. With the Bears a touchdown away from putting the game on ice, he underthrew a receiver and rookie Cam Dantzler leaped up and picked the pass off, giving the Vikings new hope.
That was quickly dashed, however, when the Vikings bafflingly elected to run the ball on first down with 2:57 remaining in the game and then threw a quick pass to Cook. Cousins was pressured on fourth-and-1 and gave the ball back to Chicago.
The Bears, of course, tried to out-conservative the Vikings by running and kicking a field goal to go up by six points with 56 seconds remaining.
Cousins completed a pass to Jefferson to put the Vikings in position for a Hail Mary but it was tipped and intercepted in the end zone putting the Vikings’ playoff hopes to bed.
All season the Vikings have played close games. Some they’ve won, some they’ve lost. But the common theme has been the inability to pressure opposing quarterbacks and even the worst of the worst are capable of having big days when they aren’t under duress. Trubisky finished 15-for-22 with 202 yards (9.6 yards per attempt). Montgomery ran for 146 yards.
And if that’s going to be the case, making mistakes with third quarter timeouts and “taking the points” isn’t going to be enough.
That’s how this season will be remembered: It just wasn’t enough.
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I need to report a robbery. Gary Kubiak stole my junior high playbook from the 70’s. Also if I was Kirk I would take a major pay cut and escape somewhere with an O-line and a play caller.
I think these past few games are proof the Vikings need to trade Rudolph. Conklin and smith can hold down the TE position.