NFL Recap: Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings 9:17 – Unzählige Fehler

The Minnesota Vikings won the Monday Night Game of Week 15 at the Chicago Bears 17-9. The guests benefited from a strong defensive performance and countless mistakes Chicago made.

The Vikings got off to a better start, taking the lead after punts on either side with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins ​​to Justin Jefferson after about 10 minutes in the game. Jefferson had run a corner route out of the slot and then only had one safety as a direct opponent. Then cornerback Cameron Dantzler forced a fumble against quarterback Justin Fields, which the Vikings captured. This was followed by a 37-yard field goal by Greg Joseph at the start of the second quarter – a sack by Robert Quinn against cousins ​​at 3rd Down prevented worse.

The guests did not punish another lost fumble of the Bears. Rather, towards the end of the first half, the Bears had enough time for a field goal on their part from 34 yards through Cairo Santos. And even after that, Chicago was lucky, because the referees overlooked a clear holding by Marqui Christian to Jefferson in a deep ball from cousins. Jefferson went down, making it easy for Bears-Safety Deon Bush to intercept. Chicago then didn’t get any more points, because a 49-yard field goal attempt failed – also because defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson still had his hand on the ball. Break score: 10: 3 Vikings.

After a fruitless opening series for the Bears at the start of the second half, the Vikings put down an almost six-minute drive, which, thanks to a personal foul penalty against Edge Rusher Trevis Gipson, carried them into the red zone after a stop at 3rd Down. There, Cousins ​​found wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette for a 7-yard touchdown pass thanks to a nifty play design: Smith-Marsette ran a simple corner route out of a tight formation, but nobody had him on the slip because the defense concentrated completely on Jefferson, who was set up in the backfield and ran an angle route towards the post office and ultimately acted as the perfect decoy.

This was followed by a bizarre sequence at the end of the third quarter. After a long punt from Bears punter Pat O’Donnell, Returner KJ Osborn missed the ball, which he then had to pick up on his own 2 and was ultimately stopped on the 4. The Bears then managed to stop and the Vikings punted on their own 13 at 4th and 1. The Bears even managed to forge said punt, so that the leather on the Vikings-30 was returned.

Bears leave numerous opportunities behind

However, the home side made absolutely nothing of this advantage. Rather, they underlined their own haphazardness with a failed 4th and 1 on 21. Fields was finally stopped by Edge Rusher DJ Wonnum in the backfield after play action – without back in the backfield. But that’s not all, because after another short series of the Vikings, replacement punt returner Damiere Byrd – specialist Jakeem Grant had previously left the game with a concussion – a muffed punt, which the Vikings captured. It was the third turnover in Chicago in the game.

Then the Vikings punted again and then stood in the way with two personal fouls on Fields – linebacker Eric Kendricks even flew off the pitch for a hard hit against the QB after a slide -. In addition, the Bears woke up a little and Fields made a few longer passes, so that the home side suddenly found themselves even at the 7-yard line. However, they did not make it into the end zone, especially since cornerback Patrick Peterson broke off two passes to Cole Kmet and Jimmy Graham. In the end Darnell Mooney ended up almost out of bounds at 4th Down and thus this series of Bears came to an abrupt end.

As a result, the Vikings turned the clock and even stopped a red zone trip of the Bears. With the final play of the game, the Bears managed a touchdown after all – a 19-yard pass from Fields to Jasper Horsted, who no longer had any influence on the game.

Chicago Bears (4-10) – Minnesota Vikings (7-7)

Result: 9:17 (0: 7, 3: 3, 0: 7, 6: 0) BOXSCORE

Bears vs. Vikings – the most important statistics

• Cousins’ touchdown pass to Jefferson in the first quarter was 12 air yards. With that, Cousins ​​has thrown 6 TD passes at Jefferson that have flown at least 10 air yards. Together with the duo Burrow-Chase (Bengals), that’s the most in the NFL this season.

• On Cousins’ second TD pass to Smith-Marsette, the snap cornerback Kindle Vildor and Safety Marqui Christian were the next defenders. But both focused only on Jefferson in the backfield, so Smith-Marsette ultimately loud at the catch in the end zone Next Gen Stats 6.3 yards from the nearest defender.

• The Bears reached the Red Zone five times and only made 9 points.
• Cousins ​​came in at 87 yards (12/24) – the fewest he has ever played in an NFL start.