ANOTHER CHICAGO CLASSIC

VIKINGS 19

BEARS 13

I swear, it is impossible to have a Vikings @ Bears game be anything other than an ugly scrum. For over 20 years these have been the ugliest football games of nearly every Vikings season. And for quite a long time, winning in Chicago was nearly impossible for the Vikings. (We only won once there between 2001 and 2014)

The Vikings came into Sunday actually having won their last 3 in Chicago though, all in aesthetically unpleasant fashion. And this game today was a matchup of 2 1-4 teams, so you knew the ugliness would be kicked up a notch.

And the game lived up (down?) to the matchup, as neither team looked good, and probably nobody came away feeling that great. But for the Vikings, they feel a little better after getting a must win.

Step one for the Vikings was to not turn the ball over on their opening drive, as they had done in each of the last 3 games. And they accomplished that, ending drive one with a 53 yard Greg Joseph field goal. Chicago methodically drove for a tying field goal. The Vikings drove for another long Joseph field goal. And a couple series later the Bears matched it. A 6-6 slugfest late into the 2nd quarter. A nation was captivated. 

Then the action picked up. Fairly deep in their own end, the Vikings turnover bug popped back up when nobody blocked a rush on Kirk, who had his arm hit. The ball flew up and landed with Chicago's Tremaine Edmunds (ruled a fumble). But the seemingly certain Bears lead never came, as just 2 plays later Justin Fields too was hit as he threw, sending the ball up into space, where Jordan Hicks made a nifty Willie Mays-like over the shoulder catch for the interception.

This gave the stumbling Vikings offense a spark, and they zipped down the field. Even stonehands Hockenson made a nice catch. Kirk found Jordan Addison for the touchdown. And because we can't ever just enjoy anything, Joseph's extra point was blocked.

But alright, a 12-6 halftime lead is fine. And we got the ball to open the 3rd, so maybe we can pad the lead. 

Nah. I swear, the Vikings have to be the worst team in the league on 3rd quarter opening drives. They never score, and mostly just go 3 and out as they did here.

But the Vikings defense was playing sturdy. In the first half, they let Fields get loose a couple times but the pass rush was really getting home and limiting anything through the air. That kept up to start the 3rd, and a Danielle Hunter sack not only ended a drive but knocked Fields out with an injured thumb. 

In came Tyson Bagent. Who? 

Bagent is an undrafted rookie out of a college called Shepherd. As obscure as it gets. But, considering how well we had Fields under control I thought this could be a bad thing to insert a new QB who might have some ability to actually throw. 

Brian Flores went after the kid. Josh Metellus got a strip sack, and there was Hicks again to scoop up the ball and race 42 yards for a touchdown.

The harassment continued on the next series, and even though the Bears got a gift DPI on Akayleb Evans they had to punt. 

So you figured that with a 2 score lead and the greenest of green QBs on the other side the Vikings would run away with this.

Nah. This 2nd half was by far the worst half of offensive football we have seen in the KOC era. 4 of the first 5 drives were 3 and outs. The one that wasn't ended with a foolish decision to have Joseph try a 57 yard field goal, which was predictably missed. 

Naturally that missed kick handed the Bears life. And Bagent was able to complete some passes, as the whole defense seemed to take this series off. When Bagent snuck it in for a TD there we were again, preposterously grinding it out in a 1 score game. 

The next Vikings series was basically killed immediately by a ludicrous intentional grounding call on Kirk, which was NOT grounding at all.

Bagent was back out there, and the Bears were driving, and the Vikings were appearing to be minutes away from maybe the worst loss of any of the many they have suffered in that stadium. But then Bagent threw an ugly deep ball that was an easy pick for Byron Murphy. On his return, Murphy almost fumbled the ball right back, but that would have been too mean even for this season so the football gods gave us a break.

And hey, the Vikings managed their 2nd 1st down of the half, which was enough to run out the clock and secure win #2 on the year.

No question this was a pitiful offensive game. This was the first of at least 4 without Justin Jefferson, and I was hoping KOC would get extra creative to try to get everybody else to make up for the loss. Instead, it seemed to make him go way more conservative. Only a couple deep shots all game against one of the NFL's worst defenses. And for reasons that make no sense, he gave Mattison 25 touches to just 2 for Akers. Mattison's ineffectiveness killed multiple drives. As did a few more big drops by receivers.

The defense carried the day, getting the TD, 3 turnovers, and 5 sacks. Just missed on a couple more turnovers too. Unfortunately, Marcus Davenport was lost to what looked like a pretty bad injury.

This win keeps the Vikings afloat a little longer. Once that daunting MNF contest next week with the 49ers (who did lose today, so they CAN be beaten) is out of the way, the schedule does ease up in a big way. For what it's worth, they do sit just a game back of the wild card. 

It's hard to look at this Vikings performance and think they are capable of a major run, but you do have to keep in mind that every Vikings team, regardless of talent, looks terrible in Chicago. That's as reliable as gravity.