Bears vs Vikings final score: Chicago drops another at home, loses 23-20 to Minnesota

The Chicago Bears came off their Bye week touting a 2-4 record, and hosted NFC North foe Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field in hopes of getting their season back on track.  Unfortunately for the Bears, they Vikings pulled out a last-second field goal to win by a score of 23-20.

This was, by far, a tale of two halves...

The first half was boring, and frustrating. The Bears struggled to get anything going on offense for the most part, with vanilla play-calling and an offensive line getting beat in the trenches.  That is, of course, until Kyle Fuller picked off a Teddy Bridgewater pass in the back-end of the 2nd quarter, which allowed Jay Cutler to connect with Alshon Jeffery for a touchdown pass.

This was a franchise record-tying touchdown pass for Jay Cutler, who matched Sid Luckman's 137 all-time TD tosses.

Also notable in the first half was a 55 yard field goal by Robbie Gould, which was the 3rd-longest in his career.

The second half was much, much more exciting.  Adam Gase put Jay Cutler in shotgun for the majority of the 2nd half, and put together a masterful set of play-calls that chewed up time and kept Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson off the football field.  Alshon Jeffery had his second consecutive 100+ yard receiving game, and Jay Cutler made another huge play with his touchdown run in the 4th quarter:

For the record, that was Cutler lowering the boom against one of the best tackling safety in the league, Harrison Smith.

We don't recommend trying this at home, but by now we know that Jay Cutler is competitive enough that he's ALWAYS going to make this play, regardless of how it turns out.  Lucky for Bears fans, it generally always turns out okay.

Speaking of Cutler... The Bears starting quarterback played great football, completing 22 of 33 passes for 211 yards and 1 touchdown. He had no interceptions.

The Bears and Vikings went back-and-forth in the 4th quarter, and ultimately things fell in the direction of the Vikings.

On a critical 3rd down play, Jay Cutler hit Jeremy Langford in the hands for a 1st down pitch-and-catch, but Langford dropped it and the Bears punted.

A few plays later, Blair Walsh put a field goal through the uprights as time expired, giving the Vikings a 23-20 victory.

INJURY NOTES:

Wide receiver Eddie Royal was knocked out of the Vikings game with a knee injury, and running back Matt Forte went out with the same.  Neither player returned and will be re-evaluated on Monday.

What are your thoughts on the Bears loss on Sunday?