Football justice was served Monday night in Minnesota. Justin Fields, who has endured a slew trials and tribulations during his short time in the NFL, was rewarded for his resilience while leading the Bears to a 12-10 victory over the Vikings.
The Bears quarterback shook off two fumbles that occurred earlier in the game and led the team on a game-winning drive while flashing his potential. He finished the night with 217 yards passing and 59 yards rushing while helping Chicago improve to 4-8. The loss dropped the Vikings to 6-6.
For what it lacked in scoring, Monday night's game made up for in intensity, especially in the second half. Chicago took a 9-3 lead, only to lose it after Joshua Dobbs hit T.J. Hockenson in the end zone on a 17-yard strike with under six minutes left.
Things got bleaker for Chicago after Fields fumbled the ball away on the Bears' ensuing drive. But Chicago's defense -- as it did numerous times on the night -- stepped up while forcing a punt and giving Fields and Co. a shot a redemption.
Fields didn't disappoint. His completions of 16 and 36 yards to D.J. Moore set up Cairo Santos' game-winning, 30-yard field goal with 10 seconds left.
Chicago had the ball for all but two plays during the opening quarter. Fields, who completed all 12 of his passes during the quarter, led the Bears on a pair of lengthy drives to open the game. The first ended with a missed field goal, but the second resulted in a chip shot by Santos.
The Bears wouldn't score again in the first half despite the defense coming up with two interceptions off of Dobbs, who helped the Vikings get on the board just before halftime on a short field goal.
Here are some takeaways from Monday's game:
Matt Eberflus' defense showed up, matching Brian Flores' unit on a night Justin Fields and Co. couldn't even muster a single touchdown. While Fields overcame a pair of fumbles to set up the game-winning field goal, it was really the other side of the ball that kept the Bears in it until the end. T.J. Edwards was all over the place patrolling the middle, Montez Sweat headlined a front that hit Joshua Dobbs nine times, and Jaylon Johnson nearly had two picks on his own as the secondary intercepted Dobbs on four different series. Their repeated stops enabled Fields and D.J. Moore to do just enough late, and Cairo Santos' four field goals did the rest.
The Joshua Dobbs magic all but completely evaporated. A week after the Broncos stole the ball from the Vikings' storybook fill-in to win a close one, Dobbs sunk to a new low trying to fit throws into heavy traffic; while at least one of his four picks came off the hands of a receiver, he could've easily thrown a fifth, too. While he showed resilience on a late touchdown strike to T.J. Hockenson, which briefly put Minnesota ahead, it was too little, too late for a Kevin O'Connell offense that kept pinning itself deep and failing to convert third- or fourth-down tries. Brian Flores' "D" did its best to lead the way, logging two takeaways of its own, but it wasn't enough.
Facing a third-and-10 from the Vikings' 49 with 1:06 left, Fields let one rip down the middle of the field and hit a wide-open D.J. Moore to put Chicago in field goal range. This came after practically 59 minutes of stale, overly conservative, screen-heavy strategy from the Bears' offense, but it saved the day, setting up Santos' game-winning 30-yarder.
Give it to Bears corner Kyler Gordon, who made an acrobatic grab on the fourth pick of Dobbs, scooping a ball deflected by his teammate in the trenches:
The Vikings (6-6) will rest on a Week 13 bye before visiting the Raiders (5-7), who just fell to the Chiefs, on Dec. 13. The Bears (4-8) will also enjoy a week off before returning in Week 14 to host the NFC North-leading Lions (8-3), who were upset by the rival Packers on Thanksgiving.
Minnesota drops to 6-6 with the loss and falls behind Seattle in the NFC playoff picture, dropping to the No. 7 seed. The Vikings take their bye next week and hope to get Justin Jefferson back against the Rams in Week 14.
Chicago improves to 4-6. The Bears still control the No. 1 pick thanks to the Panthers. They also take their bye next week, then face the Lions in Week 14.
Santos knocks it through and the Vikings will need a miracle to pull out the win.
This is all gonna come down to a Cairo Santos field goal attempt.
Well hey now! That's a terrific throw over the middle to DJ Moore. Bears in business in field goal range.
This game has to be heaven for people who for some reason have "WR screen" as their favorite play on Madden.
That's Josh Metellus forcing the fumble again.
And Justin Fields tries to run for the first down and gets absolutely leveled, leading to another fumble. Yikes.
Oh look it's another wide receiver screen from the Bears. Who could have seen that coming? (The Vikings did.)
Great job by TJ Hockenson going up and getting that one. Vikings have their first lead of the night.
...and there, finally, is the first touchdown of the game. Took until 5:54 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings finally got some solid pass protection on these last two plays and it resulted in chunk gains, finally. Still a ways to go to get to the end zone, though.
Here's the Fields fumble from the previous drive, by the way:
And oh man... seems like Addison could have done a better job with the footwork on that deep ball. Pretty lackadaisical there on what should have been a huge play.
Brandon Powell has just two catches and has still accounted for almost 40% of Dobbs' passing yards tonight. That's the kind of game it's been.
FYI:
If you are a fan of offense, this is not the game for you. Fumble by Justin Fields and we have now seen five turnovers tonight.
That could have been picked twice. Just a really bad decision by Dobbs to try to throw that through multiple defenders while being taken to the ground.
ANOTHER interception. Wow.
Josh Dobbs just completed a 6-yard pass, which for this game counts as a notable development.
Cairo Santos knocks it home from 55 yards and makes it a 9-3 Bears lead. Let's see how Minnesota responds.
Mercifully, it's the end of the third quarter. The Bears lead 6-3. I hope you are at least multi-tasking if you're still watching this game.
Man, excellent game for Jaylon Johnson. Just forced another pick. He could have had his hands in three turnovers tonight if he had caught the pick-six opportunity earlier.
These two drives are the best Mattison has looked running the ball all season. Finding the right lane and getting downhill with speed and force.
"What if we built the entire offense out of screens" is not a question I think anyone has ever asked before, but the Bears apparently decided that's the best path here. Seems like an odd use of their QB, who is at his best throwing down the field and using his legs as the checkdown option.
Fields started this game 12-12 for 100 yards. He is just 5-12 for 35 yards since as the protection has broken down and the Bears have resorted to mostly throwing screens.
This Minnesota offensive line is just getting destroyed every time Dobbs drops back to pass. There's almost no hope of getting through a progression right now.
