WINTER BREEZE

VIKINGS 30

BEARS 12

Week 15 was very good to the Minnesota Vikings. On Sunday, the Lions finally lost a game, getting 48 dropped on them at home by the Bills. Then, later in the day, the Packers won, which normally would be a bad thing, but in this case, them beating Seattle officially clinched the Vikings a playoff berth.

So the Vikings entered Monday night against the collapsing Bears not only a playoff team, but also a win away from tying the Lions for the best record in the division and conference (along with the Eagles).

Many Vikings teams of the past would lay an egg in such a spot, but not this time. These Vikings made fairly easy work of the Bears, and took their place among the NFL's elite. 

The Bears were very willing accomplices. For no reason, they went for a 4th and 1 on their own 39 on the opening drive. We stuffed em, and even though we went 3 and out, we were close enough for Will Reichard to bang in a long field goal.

The Bears 2nd drive ended when Jonathan Greenard crushed Caleb Williams, causing a fumble that looked like a sure TD return for Blake Cashman. But you know defensive players, they don't block. No big deal. The Vikings drove down and put it in the endzone on a Darnold to Jefferson connection. And the often slow starting Vikings had a 10-0 lead.

The rest of the half was kind of a snooze. Justin Jefferson had a wide open drop of a likely touchdown, which maybe happens once a year. A couple plays after that we went for a 4th down in easy field goal range, which ended with Darnold throwing a desperation pick. It was picked by the infamous Tyrique Stevenson, who then decided to celebrate by mocking the Skol chant. You dumbasses will never learn.

The Bears got stuffed on another 4th down. The Vikings added a field goal. It was 13-0 at the half, and then we all got to see a Vanilla Ice halftime show where he didn't perform Ninja Rap. Bastard.

The Vikings were in control, but had some trouble putting the game away. Darnold was not too accurate, and the OL was struggling (Brian O'Neill was out of the game injured a couple times) yet we were ignoring the run game.

Chicago had one opening to kind of get back in the game. They hit a few chunk plays, and got to the Vikings 1. But these Bears didn't go from 4-1 to eliminated in week 15 by accident. 

They scored on a TD run, but it was called back cause a lineman didn't report as an eligible receiver. They ran it back to the 1, but then had a holding penalty and a pair of incompletions. After all that, they settled for a field goal.

The Vikings' next drive rediscovered the run, and Darnold regained his accuracy. It was a smooth drive that ended in Aaron Jones's 50th career touchdown, and it was 20-3, and there was never a Bears threat again.

They did get another field goal and did get in the endzone against a lot of backups late. They also blocked a punt. 

But they didn't get the onside kick on us this time. Cam Akers got a TD, and Reichard tacked on a field goal to end the scoring. 30 points in a game where the offense wasn't explosive (we had only 1 20-yard play) and was a little lethargic ain't bad.

So now the Vikings have finally set themselves up in position to win out and get home field advantage, which would have been unthinkable a few months ago. I need it. I need to be back at US Bank Stadium in January like I need air.