Minnesota Vikings Beat Chicago Bears on MNF, 19-13

The Minnesota Vikings posted a massive victory on the road this Monday Night, defeating the Chicago Bears, 19-13. This is the third in a row for the Vikes, who are looking superb in the previous few weeks.

Though, we need to say that their victory at Soldier Field also came because of the hosts’ ineffectiveness in the attack. Like so many times this year, Chicago was looking distressed when having the football, and without any idea on how to close drives. To make it even worse for the Bears’ fans, their starting QB, Nick Foles, left the game due to a hip injury, and his current status is not good at all. Furthermore, Mitch Trubisky is injured too, and the head coach Matt Nagy finds himself in a very nasty position right now.

“I don’t know about Mitch,” Nagy said once asked about the QB replacement. “I think there’s a possibility, but I don’t know that for sure. We just have to take it day by day.”

Until the moment when he had to be carted off the field, Foles had a bad game, recording 106 yards, with 15 completions in 26 attempts, but without a TD pass and with an interception. He was replaced with Tyler Bray.

The Bears had two contrasting units on the field, with the offense being terrible and the defense shining. Khalil Mack picked Kirk Cousins’ pass, Akiem Hicks neutralized Dalvin Cook, and in those moments the Bears, were up, with their only score being delivered by Carodarrelle Patterson. He would return the second-half kick-off for 104 yards, making the most spectacular move of the entire round.

However, once Hicks left the game due to a hamstring injury, the defense’s glow slowly began to fade. With two field goals and Adam Thielen’s touchdown, things changed, and the Bears couldn’t avoid another loss, fourth in a row.

“We struggled mightily on offense in having the four three-and-outs in the second half. We had field position. We couldn’t convert on that in the red zone. It overshadows how well I thought our defense played,” Nagy stated.

CORDARRELLE PATTERSON DID IT AGAIN. @ceeflashpee84

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The Vikes’ stubbornness paid off in the end. Kirk Cousins hit Adam Thielen for two TDs, while Dalvin Cook played solid during the second half. Cook had 96 yards on 30 reps at the end of the night, while Cousins threw 292 yards for two scores and a pick. This was his first Monday Night Football victory.

“It was great to get a win,” he said, “I needed that.”

Vikes’ head coach Mike Zimmer was extremely pleased with the way his QB played, stating that even though he wasn’t perfect, performing like this against a defense like Chicago’s is very good.

“He was extremely accurate. He got the ball in the right places all night. I just felt like he did a really good job of handling what the defense was giving us.”

The Vikings have three victories in a row, all of them against the teams from their NFC North. Two came on the road, against the Packers and the Bears, and one was at home against the Detroit Lions. Right now, they are 4-5, but with a tendency to improve, as their next three games, all take place in Minneapolis, with the rivals Dallas, Carolina, and Jacksonville.

After starting the campaign with 5-1, the Bears are now 5-5, and look lost. They have a week bye coming up and after that, visit the Packers. Nagy needs to invent something to stop this free fall; otherwise, the Bears could be out of the playoff picture pretty soon.