Hip hip hooray, Bears rally to win in Minnesota behind Pineiro’s 13 points

Anyone else relieved that the Chicago Bears season is over?

Things didn’t go their way from week one, and while there were a few bright spots throughout the year, it simply wasn’t enough and the Bears end one of the most disappointing season’s in franchise history at 8-8.

And yes, I get there have been several years where the Bears had a worse record, but with expectations so high after the exhilarating 2018 season, this year felt like a kick in the nuts.

In this game, where the Minnesota Vikings rested several starters and had nothing to play for, the Bears had to come back to win on a Eddy Pineiro field goal with twelve seconds left.

The Bears had more yards, 337 to 300, and they dominated the time of possession 37:40 to 22:20, but they were a sad 1 for 5 in the red zone and only mustered 19 points on offense.

Something has got to change on this offense in 2020.

To check out all the team stats you can click here.

Now let’s take a closer look at the playing time break downs for the Bears and also some individual stats.

OFFENSE

Mitchell Trubisky ended the day with 207 yards through the air on 26 of 37 passing, which equals a meager 5.6 yards per attempt and a passer rating on 84.0, and he ran twice for 1 yard. He was sacked 4 times in what was a poor day from Chicago’s pass protection.

Allen Robinson had 9 catches for 71 yards, Riley Ridley had 3 for 54, Javon Wims had 3 for 23, and Anthony Miller had 1 for 5 yards before leaving with an injury. It was nice to see the rookie Ridley get some extra playing time, it’s just unfortunate it came at Miller’s expense.

Rookie running back David Montgomery had a nice day with 23 carries, 113 yards, 1 TD.

Tarik Cohen had 9 receptions for 44 yards, 4 runs for 20, and a kick return for 16.

Tight end Eric Saubert had 1 reception for 10 yards.

I wouldn’t put too much stock in rookie Jesper Horsted getting his reps cut down the last couple weeks, as he was always going to be a project for 2020 as he transitioned from receiver to U tight end.

Alex Bars had some reps as a sixth offensive lineman.

DEFENSE

Nick Kwiatkoski led the Bears with 8 tackles including 2 for loss, and fellow inside linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis had 6, a QB hit, an interception and a pass defensed. Safety Eddie Jackson had the Bears other interception.

Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had 4 tackles, as did defensive lineman Nick Williams and corner Kyle Fuller.

Bilal Nichols had a tackle and a fumble recovery.

Khalil Mack assisted on a tackle.

It was nice to see Kevin Toliver II play so much at corner, but unfortunate that rookie Duke Shelley couldn’t get in on D in nickel.

SPECIAL TEAMS*

*The above image has players that only played in the third phase.

Pineiro went 4 for 4 on field goals and 1 for 1 on extra points to finish his year in Chicago on a high note.

Patrick O’Donnell had 2 punts for a 51.5 net average while placing one inside the 20 on a nice play from Deon Bush.

Ryan Nall and Isaiah Irving each had a special teams tackle.

All statistics and snap counts are taken directly from the NFL’s Game Statistic and Information System, as are the accompanying pictures.

To check out the full box score I find that ESPN has an easy to navigate site.