Bears return to form in disheartening loss to lackluster Vikings

The Chicago Bears came into this game in an uncertain position. They looked good for one game after losing 14 before it. The offense had looked good for two weeks in a row against unimpressive defenses after a thoroughly disheartening start to the season. You’d like to think they could take care of business against a spiraling division opponent who just lost their superstar receiver, but It was easy to fear the recent flashes of hope were an illusion.

Box Score

Velus Jones Jr. wiggles past the 30 for a nice kick return

The quick little Bear has had his struggles since being drafted in the 3rd round last year, but he looked good shimmying through Vikings on the game’s first kick return.

Bears start with an unseen unblocked blitzer sack

I suspect there was an adjustment Fields needed to make if he identified a free rusher on that play, but with the Bears offense, I can’t shake the feeling the play went exactly as designed.

At least one good play call on the Bears first drive!

Of course, I’m referring to the decision to punt on 4th and 22. Great situational awareness.

After two weeks of things working, the Bears offense is back to ground zero

New hypothesis: the Bears offense is barely complicated enough for what they are going to do to not be obvious to non-division opponents in regular season games. But I fear that any team motivated to put more than the minimum effort into studying it finds their predictable patterns easily exploitable.

Update: I take it back. The Vikings couldn’t see a Velus Jones Jr. outside run coming. They don’t know what’s coming, they’re just playing better.

Bears top two in false starts

Just behind the Carolina Panthers. Our buddies in the NFC South seems to be sharing in our misery in many ways this season. At least we’ll both have high draft picks!

Tacckle for loss!

Zacch Pickens smooshed his way into the backfield in the second quarter to tackle the back and push the Vikings back to a 3rd and 12 they couldn’t convert. Nice moment for the rookie who left college with a lot of room to grow in run defense.

The Bears might be the right defense to cure the Vikings turnover bug

Even when Kirky tosses an uncatchable ball backwards into open grass, the Bears fail to scoop up the gift in bounds. HITS, baby!

Update: later in the second, TJ Edwards battled the ball as Cousin’s threw and Terrell Edmunds intercepted it. Great tag team from our new LB duo. I should have never underestimated the Bears Kirky.

Fields to Mooney Re-uni

The former dynamic duo has had a little trouble finding their stride this season, but Fields hit Mooney in stride in the second quarter for a beautiful 39 yard catch and run.

The 3rd and 7 run call was a little annoying

But the 4 yards it gained took the field goal from 57 yards to 53 yards. Hard to argue against the value in that when Cairo Santos’ career long is 55.

To clarify, Fields interception wasn’t his fault

It was the result of being run into by Danielle Hunter in an unpredictable and unfortunate way. Cousins’ interception obviously was his fault, but also was the result of tremendous defensive play by the Bears, unlike the Vikings defensive play which was really just weird and lucky.

Welcome back, Bears cornerbacks

Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon have been missed in this struggling Bears defense. I’m sure the absence of Justin Jefferson is a factor, but the Bears secondary has looked better today than it has in a while and both the returning Bears had some nice moments.

The Gill-o-tine delivers!

Trenton Gill gave the Bears a much-needed boost after a floundering offensive drive, pinning a punt within the 5 yard line. Top building block for the future?

Get well soon, Justin!

Fields walked off holding his throwing risk after his 4th sack in the 3rd quarter. It’s not entirely clear what happened, but we’re all crossing our fingers that it’s a short-term setback.

Bagent szn

Tyson Bagent completed his first pass to familiar second-string buddy Velus Jones Jr. Nice moment for the rookie UDFA. The first drive ended with a bit of a bummer, but it was a big enough of a bummer to give him a chance to come right back on the field after a brief kickoff interlude. In his second drive, the young Bear showed he ability to get the ball out quickly, even with suboptimal snap placement.

Bagent finally found success on a long drive in the 4th quarter, with two crucial passes to DJ Moore which forced the defense to start respecting the pass and allowed a long drive ending with a QB sneak touchdown.

DJ Moore is a tough little Bear

Not only can he put up with being criminally underutilized through long stretches in this offense, but he can take a thrubbing as he catches the ball without losing his grip or batting an eye.

Tyler Scott has the most impressive 5 yard catch I’ve seen this season

It looked like Tyson Bagent was trying to throw the ball away after pressure forced him to backpedal several yards, but instead of the ball falling into the grass, Tyler Scott ran back several yards for a diving catch that he was able to secure outside his body as he fell to the ground.

It was fun for a bit to see Tyson Bagent rally this team for a long touchdown drive. Otherwise, this game was an all-too-predictable disappointment. This game has been so disappointing, in fact, that I’ve actually started to spell disappointing correctly with only one s without being prompted by the spell check. This game wasn’t even bad enough to rant about or hope it will inspire some dramatic changes.

The Minnesota Vikings played poorly. The Bears played worse. Yuck.