MINNEAPOLIS -- The Chicago Bears eclipsed their 2024 win total last Sunday in yet another scintillating comeback. This time against the lowly New York Giants, the Bears found themselves at Jaxson Dart's mercy for the middle two quarters before Caleb Williams put on his cape and rescued them at Soldier Field.
At 6-3 and occupying a playoff spot coming into today, the Bears were in somewhat uncharted territory lately. And today was their first divisional rematch -- taking on the pesky Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.
We remember the Week 1 disaster. The Bears led 17-6 in the third quarter before they collapsed in J.J. McCarthy's hometown return. These teams have taken different paths since then, with the Bears ahead in the division and racking up wins thanks to their offense.
Today's game was critical: falling to 0-3 in the division wasn't an option if the playoffs were a realistic goal for Year 1 under Ben Johnson. Win, and go to 7-3 and essentially bury the Vikings. Lose, and things tighten up yet again and they start to look unserious again.
In the end, the Bears refused to take control of a game the Vikings tried to give them repeatedly, blew a 16-3 lead in the fourth quarter, and somehow eked out a last-second field goal to win the game anyway. An insane football game that they deserved to win and lose at the same time. But they are 7-3.
I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game below. Follow me on X @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Thoughts and Observations
1. (PREGAME) -- The Vikings didn't blitz Caleb Williams much in Week 1, opting for sounder coverages. I expect more of the same today. Williams has been good against the blitz overall, and the Vikings likely will want to focus on disguising coverages to confuse him post-snap. I expect Chicago to counter with their running game that's taken off since their bye week.
On defense, I expect Chicago to focus on stopping Aaron Jones and heating up J.J. McCarthy. The Bears have really found something with C.J. Gardner-Johnson taking on a more fluid role, and I expect him to continue wreaking havoc.
2. Fairly rough start on both sides of the ball after five drives - and Chicago is fortunate to only be down three points. On the Vikings' three drives, McCarthy has missed a wide open Addison deep, Addison has dropped a deep dime from McCarthy, and then they finally cooked their way to to red zone where the Bears held them to a field goal.
On offense, the running game has been fairly stagnant and Caleb Williams missed two third down deep balls to a wide open Rome Odunze and DJ Moore, respectively. Not the start Chicago wanted, and they gotta overcome their sloppiness quickly.
3. Bears took half the second quarter on a 15 play, 74 yard drive that resulted in a touchdown. On the first play, Caleb Williams spun out of a DB blitz and escaped for seven yards. And after that, Chicago methodically marched down the field, mixing in some really nice runs, moving pockets, and various designs to keep Minnesota on their heels.
The Bears' rookie class of Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, and Kyle Monangai came up huge on that drive with big plays - capped by Monangai's first down pickup right before his touchdown. That's a really nice response to put Chicago ahead 7-3. Ben Johnson with a masterclass on that drive.
4. Nahshon Wright is the Bears' CB5 -- you have to remember, he's the definition of a depth piece. And it shows in every game, man. He gave Justin Jefferson a huge cushion on a 3rd and long on the Vikings' last drive before halftime, to convert into field goal range. And then a couple plays later, he intercepted McCarthy on an underthrown deep shot to Jordan Addison in the end zone to turn away Minnesota before halftime. The ultimate boom/bust depth piece.
Bears had a chance to double up before halftime but Caleb sailed a deep shot to Odunze on 3rd and 1 from the Bears' own 30-yard line. I understand trying to pick up chunks, but Caleb's just been off on non-heavily-schemed plays today. Other than his brilliant sack avoidance, of course.
5. I'd love to see Chicago recommit to the ground game to open the second half. They can take control and put Minnesota back on their heels. You don't want them to dictate things on defense, and they've largely been able to do that today.
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6. The Bears continue to be an annoying football team figuring things out. Second half started with a hot throw to Odunze on a blitz that became a pile-pushing 17-yard play. A couple of nice throws under pressure got Chicago to the +34, but then a bad drop by Durham Smythe and a weird 3rd and 5 sweep-ish run by Travis Homer (?!) resulted in a FG attempt.
Third down in general today has been a rough go -- following a bad third down performance last Sunday against the Giants.
Bears ruined their momentum on that drive a bit but fortunately got points on it anyway. 13-3.
7. The boo birds came out at U.S. Bank Stadium as the Vikings got a false start on 3rd and 2 and then McCarthy airmailed a pass on third down to lead to a punt. This is his fifth career start and he's struggling. Hearing boo birds in his home stadium isn't something he's used to. Have to see how that impacts his confidence going forward.
8. The Bears' offense is so good between the 20s -- sometimes due to scheme, and sometimes due to playmakers just doing really good shit.
The red zone continues to confound. They need to start figuring this out. Field goals keep you in games, and touchdowns win games.
The good news: Caleb looks much more comfortable in this second half has played well.
9. The boo birds are out again at U.S. Bank Stadium. McCarthy launched a deep ball on a 2nd and 2 that was woefully underthrown again and should've been picked. Lucky for him, Jaquan Brisker ran into a perfectly positioned Tyrique Stevenson and knocked them both out.
On 3rd and 2, he was late and high over the middle and was lucky it wasn't picked there, too.
Honestly feel bad for the kid. But this is one of the worst games I've seen from a QB since... I watched Bo Nix last Thursday night.
10. The Bears closed the third quarter with a first down after a run by Kyle Monangai. And they opened the fourth quarter with a sack, a throwaway and another big sack.
And then Myles Price returned it 48 yards to the Bears' 24, after which the Vikings scored a touchdown in two plays.
16-10.
Total combustion from Chicago after an opportunity to put the game away.
11. The Bears started the next drive the right way - dominating on the ground en route to Vikings territory. But they couldn't go too far and a 45 yard field goal attempt from Santos sailed wide left.
Still 16-10 with 8:08 left in the game. The Bears have not taken advantage of their opportunities to put this game away and are now one drive away from losing. Just not good. Special teams disasters all around.
12. Thankfully, a Jordan Addison drop and a Tremaine Edmunds tipped pass lead to a punt from Minnesota. Bears get one more opportunity somehow to put this game away...
...The Bears burned a couple minutes but an illegal formation ruined the drive. I'd have gone for it on 4th and 5 from the Minnesota 43-yard line. Go win the game. But they punted.
And after the McCarthy connected with Addison on 4th and 4 to save the drive, they walked the Bears down the field for a quick touchdown to put them ahead 17-16.
Horrifying result here as the offense and special teams are 100% responsible for this meltdown.
13. Some redemption on special teams for Chicago! Devin Duvernay took the kickoff to the Minnesota 40-yard line. Johnson opted to run the ball three times -- gaining a total of nine yards -- to set up a 48-yard field goal attempt from Santos (who had already missed from 45 earlier).
It didn't make sense, and I wholeheartedly believe this was Johnson's worst game of the season.
And it didn't matter. I was 100% expecting Kevin O'Connell to ice the kicker, and he didn't. And Santos' kick snuck just inside the left upright to win it for Chicago 19-17.
The defense was excellent for most of the game, and the offense just couldn't get out of its own way in various spots. But they eke out a divisional road win, somehow, someway.
Another game the Bears of old 100% lose. And the Bears of new tried to lose. But they pull it out.
7-3 is 7-3.
14. The Bears return home to host the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday. If he plays, it might be Aaron Rodgers' swan song at Soldier Field -- and one last opportunity to beat the historic Bears killer. I don't think the Steelers are a great team, but the Bears have plenty to figure out and get cleaned up. But I think they can pull it out.
Early prediction: Bears 24, Steelers 23.
