Vikings

INSTANT REACTION: Vikings Throttled in 16-6 Loss at Soldier Field

Photo Credit: Quinn Harris (USA Today Sports)

CHICAGO — The Soldier Field woes continue for the Minnesota Vikings, and so do Kirk Cousins’ struggles in big games.

Despite the Bears losing starting quarterback Mitch Trubisky to a shoulder injury on the game’s first drive, backup Chase Daniel outplayed Cousins en route to a 16-6 Bears win, dropping the Vikings to last in the NFC North. Daniel’s first-drive touchdown pass to Tarik Cohen, his only on the day, gave the Bears an early lead that they rode to victory.

It was Daniel’s day to shine as he hung in against an at-times lively Vikings pass rush and repeatedly hit receivers in stride while Trubisky watched from the sideline in a sling. His final line: 22 of 30 for 195 yards a touchdown with some gutty conversions. Meanwhile, Cousins delivered another dud as he dropped to 0-3 against the Bears, fumbling twice to put his fumble total at 27 since 2017. His stat line got padded by a late 92-yard touchdown drive to read 233 yards on 27 of 36 passing.

It was nowhere near that adequate.

A flood of penalties, challenge flags and booth reviews led to a stilted pace that made for an ugly football game. At one point the Bears had committed seven penalties to the Vikings’ two, but Minnesota couldn’t capitalize on those early mistakes, thanks in part to a pair of good challenges by Matt Nagy — one that overturned a Bears fumble, another that gave the Bears a fumble recovery. The Vikings ended up losing the take-give battle 2-0, a cardinal sin for a tough road game. Perhaps the biggest blow came with the game 7-0, when Stefon Diggs had the ball stripped over the middle to halt a rare drive that had moved into Bears territory.

The Vikings didn’t run a play in the Bears’ red zone until garbage time, and the offense was stuck below 100 total yards until midway through the fourth quarter.

Minnesota was outplayed and outcoached. The Vikings appeared to make a questionable decision that gave the Bears a field goal before the end of the first half when head coach Mike Zimmer called timeout as Chicago seemed content to take a delay of game and punt. Personnel confusion may have been the impetus for Zimmer, but the Bears rethought their decision, converted a fourth-down pass and got in field goal range for an extra three points.

It was that kind of day for the purple, who dropped to 2-4 at Soldier Field under Zimmer. They’ve gone three straight games against the Bears without scoring a first-half touchdown.

Chicago was missing DT Akiem Hicks and LB Roquan Smith. No matter. The Bears secondary shut down Minnesota’s duo of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen in the meaningful portion of the game, while the defensive line caused enough disruption to fluster Cousins. Star edge rusher Khalil Mack, who drew double teams much of the afternoon, strip sacked Cousins on the first play of the second half, leading to a Bears field goal.

A big fourth quarter propelled Diggs to 108 yards receiving, but most of it came against a prevent defense.

On the other side of the ball, Allen Robinson was Daniel’s favorite target, finishing with seven catches for 77 yards, often at the expense of corner Xavier Rhodes, who was a step behind him most of the day. The Bears weren’t afraid to challenge Minnesota’s secondary, dropping Daniel back for 30 pass attempts with only one sack. They converted 11 third downs through the air.

Big picture: The Vikings appear to be right back where they were a year ago, and that’s not going to cut it. While the offense has started fast at U.S. Bank Stadium against inferior opponents, it has no-showed in two key road games against division rivals. Minnesota goes back on the road next weekend against the New York Giants and their undefeated rookie quarterback Daniel Jones. It suddenly feels like a must win with Minnesota looking up at the rest of the division.

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