Bears Defeat Vikings in All Defense, No Offense Monday Night Football Matchup
The Chicago Bears are a team that no one is giving a lot of coverage right now, and while that is because they aren’t very good, they were able to get a win versus the Minnesota Vikings in this Monday night all-defense, no-offense matchup. With this win the Bears improve to a very disappointing 4-8 on the season and still sit at the bottom of their NFC North division with no real hope to reach the playoffs. This loss brings the Vikings record to a mediocre 6-6 and second in their NFC North division. While the Vikings are missing a lot of pieces right now and dealing with a lot of injuries, such as quarterback Kirk Cousins and wide receiver Justin Jefferson being out, this team’s offense, specifically quarterback Josh Dobbs, is going to have to play much better football than they did in this game if they want to have a chance to make the playoffs come January. Next week during week thirteen both these times will enjoy a bye week. Let’s take a look at how Chicago got this win.
The Bears would start this game in the wrong way as kicker Cairo Santos would miss a 48-yard field goal at the end of their first drive. However, after the Vikings punted the ball at the end of their first drive, Santos would get another chance at a field goal. This field goal, from 25 yards out, would be good to put the Bears up 3-0 early in the second quarter. The Vikings’ offensive struggles would start in the second quarter as quarterback Joshua Dobbs threw two interceptions. The first interception was picked off by Chicago cornerback Jaylon Johnson and the second one was picked off by Bears safety Jaquan Brisker. While Chicago’s defense would have all of these wonderful plays their offense could not turn it into any points, and it would actually be the Vikings who would put the next points on the board. These points came from kicker Greg Joseph as he knocked down a 34-yard field goal to tie the game up 3-3 as both teams headed into the locker room.
Chicago would be able to regain the lead again early in the second half as their offense was able to set up a 39-yard field goal for Santos, which he sent straight threw the goalpost to make the score of the game 6-3 Bears. Dobbs would throw another interception on the Vikings' next drive as Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards caught the ball. The Bears’ offense was finally able to capitalize on this takeaway by the defense as they set up another field goal for Santos, this one from 55 yards out, to make the score of the game 9-3 Chicago. Dobbs would throw his fourth interception of the game when Minnesota got the ball back into the hands of Chicago’s cornerback Kyler Gordon. Unfortunately for Chicago, they were not able to capitalize off of this interception as quarterback Justin Field fumbled the ball. The fumble was forced by Vikings linebacker Danielle Hunter and recovered by Minnesota defensive tackle Sheldon Day.
The Vikings were able to translate this defensive effort into seven points on the offensive end as Dobbs connected with tight end T.J. Hockenson for a 17-yard touchdown to give the Vikings the lead 10-9 with just under six minutes remaining in the game. Fields would fumble once again on the Bears' next drive. This fumble was forced by Minnesota safety Josh Metellus and recovered by Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr. Unfortunately for Minnesota, their offense could do nothing with the ball so the Bears would get one more drive for a chance at victory in this game and the Bears’ last drive ended with Santos knocking down a 30-yard field goal to win this game 12-10.
Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields completed twenty-seven of his thirty-seven pass attempts in the game, finishing having thrown for 217 yards. Fields also led the Bears in rushing yards in the game with twelve carries for 59 yards. Wide receiver DJ Moore led Chicago in receiving yards, reeling in eleven receptions for 114 yards. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs missed thirteen pass attempts in the game going twenty-two for thirty-two with one touchdown and four interceptions. Running back Alexander Mattison had ten carries for 52 yards. Tight end T.J. Hockenson had five catches for fifty yards and one touchdown, which was the only touchdown scored in the game by either team.
