Vikings’ playoff dreams shattered after disappointing loss to Bears
By Adam Patrick
The Minnesota Vikings will not be playing extra football this year after failing to defeat the Chicago Bears in their regular season finale on Sunday.
Heading into the 2018 season, the Minnesota Vikings had hopes of capturing the franchise’s first ever Super Bowl win.
But after Sunday’s 24-10 loss to the Chicago Bears, the Vikings won’t even get a chance to participate in this year’s playoffs. Minnesota now has to wait until next season to pursue their championship dreams.
The Vikings could have still made the postseason this year with a loss if the Philadelphia Eagles also suffered a loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday. However, the Eagles did not fall to the Redskins this week, so Minnesota’s time playing football in 2018 has now come to an end.
From the opening drive on Sunday, the matchup appeared to already be in the Bears’ favor. In a game that the Vikings desperately needed to win, they failed to show up and now they’ll be watching the postseason from their couch just like all of their fans.
Minnesota’s offense hit a wall on Sunday against the Bears as they finished with just 164 total yards. Vikings interim offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski had no answers for a Chicago defense that stopped his team time and time again.
None of Minnesota’s top players were able to do anything against a talented group of Bears defenders on Sunday when they were needed the most.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins threw for for just 132 yards, running back Dalvin Cook only gained 39 yards on the ground, and Pro Bowl wide receiver Adam Thielen caught just three passes for 38 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, Minnesota struggled, once again, to contain the Bears’ innovative offense led by head coach Matt Nagy. Chicago converted on eight of their 14 third down attempts and that proved to be a huge factor in Sunday’s outcome.
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Where do the Vikings go from here? Who knows, but now they have a lot more time to figure that out with no games left to prepare for this season.