4 winners and 2 losers in Minnesota Vikings’ crazy 9-3 victory vs. Chicago Bears
The Minnesota Vikings found a way to get an ugly win against the Chicago Bears with Dallas Turner breaking out again.
The Minnesota Vikings found a way to get an ugly win against the Chicago Bears by a score of 9-3. Was it as ugly as the score suggests? Yes, it was. The weather was ugly and rainy, along with the field being in poor condition. Even so, Brian Flores got the best of Ben Johnson.
It was an ugly game for the Vikings, and a way they haven’t always found to win in the past. Kyler Murray missed the game after suffering a concussion last week, and Carson Wentz got the start.
Within the game, there are multiple winners and losers, but the Vikings’ strengths were better than not.
Winner: EDGE Dallas Turner
After a massive performance against the Green Bay Packers, edge rusher Dallas Turner continued that against the Bears. With the way the Vikings were attacking Caleb Williams, they needed guys like Turner to get home regularly, and he did.
Pro Football Focus’ in-game grading has Turner with 10 pressures and he sacked Williams once and Tyson Bagent to win the game, while forcing two others. He’s doing a great job overall of attacking the quarterback and containing Caleb Williams in the pocket. He made Turner’s life hell on Sunday afternoon. This is the best edge rusher in the NFL right now.
Loser: QB Carson Wentz
We knew that Wentz wasn’t exactly a great quarterback going into the game. Even so, he has a level of success across the board, including winning the game last Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. Things weren’t all hunky dory this week.
Wentz was not the most composed in the pocket, and he missed Jordan Addison on a couple of occasions. It wasn’t great, and some of that will be due to the weather. However, Wentz needed to be better. Simply put: once Murray is healthy, there won’t be a quarterback controversy.
Winner: Vikings secondary
The pass rush for the Vikings was really good on the day, getting both pressure on Williams and keeping contain. However, it wasn’t just the front that made an impact on the Bears’ offense.
The secondary did a great job staying with the receivers and tight ends downfield, as their top skill players on the outside only had 11 receptions on the day. It’s exactly what you want to see from the secondary, plus a Byron Murphy Jr. interception, and it continues to balance out the Vikings’ two aspects on defense.
Winner: DT Jalen Redmond
So much of success on the defensive front is rooted in getting pressure on the quarterback. Yes, that is a big part of it, but Jalen Redmond does a really good job in playing well across the board in every situation.
Redmond was getting pressure on the quarterback, getting his hands up in the passing game, and stopping the run in multiple ways. He thrived across the board, and it was exactly what they needed on the defensive line.
Loser: Two-minute defense
It’s something we talked about last week, along with in multiple previous seasons. Flores has struggled overall across the board in stopping teams in two-minute drill situations. They almost let the Bears come back into the game, and it’s a brutal thing to struggle with.
They did come up big at the end of the game, which is great, but it’s a frustrating element to continue to see.
Winner: Red zone defense
The biggest winner of the Vikings’ defense wasn’t Turner, Redmond or the secondary; it was how well they played in the red zone. The Bears had three possessions in the red area on the day, and they came out of it with zero points.
The first one had Williams hit Khalif Raymond on a really nice conversion to get a first down at the one, but the Vikings forced a D’Andre Swift fumble, recovered by Isaiah Rodgers. He then blocked a field goal in the fourth quarter to help the Vikings keep the lead.
