Vikings take care of business against bumbling Bears
It wasn't flashy but the Vikings had no problem dispensing of Chicago on Monday night
By Matthew Coller
MINNEAPOLIS — Letdown game? Well, only in terms of sheer entertainment. Not in terms of result.
One day after clinching a playoff spot and being put in position to race for the NFC crown, the Minnesota Vikings took care of business against the downtrodden Chicago Bears.
Nobody would describe the Vikings offensive performance as sharp or exciting but they put together more of a grind-it-out game with success running the football and enough conversions from Sam Darnold to move the sticks and produce another multi-score victory.
Now the Vikings are 12-2, already making this one of their best seasons in team history.
Here’s how it went down….
The Vikings pulled out all the stops for Monday Night Football. Cris Carter and Randy Moss walked out as honorary captains carrying a Randy Moss jersey. Moss announced this week that he’s in the middle of a battle with cancer. Then Twins Hall of Famer Joe Mauer blew the horn and led the SKOL chant. This is life at 11-2. Everything is big.
The beleaguered Caleb Williams trotted out to start the game. It’s hard to say if he’s ever played anywhere in his life that was as loud as US Bank Stadium was to start the game. The “whiteout” crowd executed the operation impressively. It was hard to find any shades of purple. It was also hard to hear yourself think as the Viking stopped an outside pitch on fourth down to open the game. You have to respect the decision by the Bears to go Dan Campbell style with nothing to lose but the Bears gave an early break to the Vikings.
Sam Darnold was clearly feeling the stadium’s energy to start the game. He rolled left on a bootleg and had Jordan Addison open but overthrew him. Last week that play was there every single time for him. On third down, he escaped the rush and threw out of bounds when he might have been able to scramble. Who could blame him for being amped up considering everything happening surrounding him and the team at the moment.
Will Reichard was good from 53 yards — a needed sign after he returned from injury last week and had a routine kick drill the post. 3-0.
In recent weeks the Vikings defense has been susceptible to teams that can run the ball successfully like Arizona and Atlanta staying on the field for long periods of time. The Bears attempted that strategy when they returned to the field, hammering away back-to-back successful runs and a short pass to get into scoring position. But that didn’t last long. Jonathan Greenard went flying around the edge and blindside sacked Williams in a play that looked like it was out of an NFL Films old school highlight reel. Blake Cashman recovered the fumble, putting the Vikings on the Bears side of the field to start another drive.
The sentiment going into the game was that the Vikings could get the Bears to give up if they could get ahead by two scores early. Well, the opportunity was given to them right from the jump. Aaron Jones burst forward for runs of nine and 13 yards and then Darnold settled down with a completion to Jordan Addison. Just like that, first-and-goal. One play later, touchdown. Kevin O’Connell drew up another tremendous concept in the red zone that had the Bears focusing on the run game and then Justin Jefferson came across the field open in the back of the end zone for the score. Jefferson went up to the camera and yelled “we love you, Randy.” Incredible stuff. 10-0 before the all-white jerseys even got sweat stains on them.
If Williams was going to bounce back, he needed to do in on Chicago’s third attempt of the game. If the Bears could respond, we might have a ballgame. But Williams’s resilience might only go as far as the players and play caller. With nobody open on third down, he nearly threw a pick-six right into the hands of Harrison Smith.
The Vikings got the ball back and Darnold did something he’s been wisely doing in recent weeks: Checked down. On third-and-long, all the receivers went deep and Darnold got pressure. He flipped it underneath to Aaron Jones, who slithered through the defense for a 18-yard gain to convert the first down.
The field flipped to start the second quarter and Darnold converted another third-and-long. This time he found gaps in the Bears zone and delivered a strike to Brandon Powell. Darnold then had a wide open Jefferson, who uncharacteristically dropped a wide open pass that would very likely have resulted in a touchdown. You’ll never see him drop one that easy ever again. On fourth-and-3, O’Connell decided to give it a shot. Do a little Dan Campbell impression, why not. But Darnold got pressured and flung the ball up for grabs. Chicago ended his streak of avoiding turnovers.
Maybe the Bears will get a little life from this? Well, if they get multiple chances at it. The Viking stopped Williams on third-and-long after he clearly struggled to see anything down the field, which seems to have been the case all year. But then they ran into the punt on an attempt at blocking it. That extended the Bears drive and seemed to ignite them a bit. Williams picked up a 14-yard first down on a short pass to bring Chicago into Viking territory. The Bears decided to again go for fourth down, this time in field goal range. Again, you have to respect it but the Bears failed and the Vikings got the ball back.
With just over two minutes left in the second quarter, Cam Robinson jumped offside. He had three penalties and three pressures allowed. That didn’t matter so much though because Darnold kept the train moving with a first down conversion to TJ Hockenson. And then he found Addison underneath and then Hockenson again. And then Addison again. The sloppiness continued as Blake Brandel got smoked on a drop-back at the Chicago 29-yard line and allowed a sack but it did not matter as Darnold again converted third down to Hockenson.
The drive stalled out when the pressure reached Darnold on several plays and the Vikings settled for a field goal. At half, 13-0. Could have easily been 20+.
Darnold opened the second half still struggling to be sharp down the field. He nearly threw an interception on a pass over the middle and then got pressured into having the ball knocked away on third down. Not exactly the dagger drive they wanted.
The Bears tried to out-sloppy the Vikings with a penalty on the punt return and it was starting to feel a bit like a preseason game.
Williams’s first drive of the second half began with his nicest throw of the night and ended with his worst throw. He completed a 26-yard throw down the sideline to Keenan Allen but missed a wide open Allen on third down. It would have been an easy conversion.
This late in the season, it’s shocking that Williams is still looking like a Week 1 rookie. Naturally, the development that he’s received this year could be questioned but there might also be some fundamental issues that could be difficult to resolve.
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