Despite having two weeks to prepare, the Minnesota Vikings came out flat and suffered a loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday night.
If the Minnesota Vikings were going to put themselves back in the group of this season’s Super Bowl contenders, it needed to start with a win against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night.
Well, the Vikings fell to the Bears by a final score of 25-20 and showed that they are nowhere close to contending for a championship this year.
Even though Minnesota had two weeks to prepare for Sunday night’s matchup, they came out flat from the start and couldn’t really keep up with Chicago on either side of the ball.
Minnesota Vikings
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins finished with 262 passing yards for two touchdowns and two interceptions, including a costly pick-six in the fourth quarter. Cousins looked off for the majority of the game as he had a consistent dose of pressure in his face all night from the Bears’ defense.
Minnesota really couldn’t do anything on offense against Chicago. The Vikings finished with just 268 total yards on Sunday, which included an embarrassing 22 yards on the ground.
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs was basically the only bright spot for Minnesota on offense. Diggs ended his night with 13 catches (tying a career-high) for 126 yards and one touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, the Vikings’ defenders did all they could to keep their team in the game. Minnesota forced the Bears’ offense to commit three turnovers, but it obviously still didn’t matter.
Two of those turnovers came courtesy of safety Anthony Harris, who snagged himself a pair of interceptions on Sunday against Chicago. Harris has been doing very well over the last few weeks filling in for the injured Andrew Sendejo.
With the loss, the Vikings are now 5-4-1 this season and a game and a half behind the Bears for first place in the NFC North.
Minnesota’s next matchup of the year will be taking place on Sunday night, once again, as they will face the 4-5-1 Green Bay Packers next week inside U.S. Bank Stadium.