Instant reaction: Vikings win a sloppy one over imploding Bears

It wasn't a beauty contest, but Minnesota stayed alive in the playoff chase

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By Sam Ekstrom

CHICAGO — With 14 players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list and another five on I.R., there was no reason for the Chicago Bears to stick around Monday night.

But stick around they did, until their own lack of discipline got the better of them in the second half. The Vikings didn’t so much control the game as the Bears giftwrapped a 17-9 Minnesota win to move them to 7-7.

Dalvin Cook slogged for 89 yards, D.J. Wonnum had a career-best three sacks, and the Vikings and Bears played a topsy-turvy 60 minutes of flag-filled football.

There wasn’t much of an aesthetic to this one, and in a building where things often get ugly, Monday’s game was worse than usual.

The phrase of the night was self-destruction for the home team, some of it aided by a suspect officiating crew; some self-inflicted. The Bears committed nine penalties, several of them at egregious times. Deon Bush was dinged 15 yards for a late hit on Tyler Conklin, Teez Tabor committed a low-block on Brian O’Neill, and Trevis Gipson shoved a Viking after the whistle — each of them bailing the Vikings out of a failed third down to extend an eventual scoring drive. Head coach Matt Nagy also picked up a personal foul for bumping a ref during a heated exchange after the first quarter, seemingly arguing one of the previous penalties.

The short-handed Bears looked to make up for their missing talent with extra emotion, but their passion didn’t translate to production. Despite plenty of pushing and shoving after plays, which has become a staple of this rivalry, the Bears were sloppy in all three phases, not solely their penalty-prone defense.