It almost slipped away, but the Minnesota Vikings were able to escape their Week 5 game against the Chicago Bears with a win.
In a matchup where they should have easily walked off the field with a victory over the Chicago Bears, the Minnesota Vikings didn’t have a win in the bag on Sunday until the final seconds of the contest for the third week in a row.
Thanks to a Kirk Cousins rushing touchdown and a fumble recovery by Cameron Dantzler in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the Vikings were able to improve their record to 4-1 in Week 5 by defeating the Bears by a final score of 29-22.
We will have a more in-depth look at Minnesota’s performance on Sunday in the near future, but for now, what are some of the rapid takeaways from their win over Chicago?
Rapid thoughts on the Vikings win over the Bears
Cousins has a Jekyll and Hyde day: Kirk Cousins was truly elite in the first half on Sunday as he started the contest with 17 straight completions while leading the Vikings to three touchdowns on their first three offensive drives of the afternoon. In the first two quarters, Cousins completed 22-of-26 passes for 217 yards and one touchdown.
But then came the second half and Minnesota’s quarterback was unable to continue playing at the level he displayed out on the field during the first 30 minutes of the game.
In the final two quarters of the matchup, Cousins completed 10-of-15 pass attempts for 79 yards and one interception. Had he been able to continue performing as he did in the first half, the final score probably wouldn’t have been as close.
Smith-Marsette helps his old team: Right before the start of the regular season, the Vikings decided to waive wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette, just one year after the team selected him in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Smith-Marsette was eventually claimed by the Bears, and on Sunday, he got a chance to go up against his former team. Assuming he felt he had something to prove, his day couldn’t have gone much worse inside U.S. Bank Stadium.
With Chicago’s offense hoping to tie the game in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, Smith-Marsette caught a pass, and before getting tackled, he had the football snatched out of his hands by Minnesota cornerback Cam Dantzler.
The play ended up sealing the win for the Vikings, and it’s one that’s likely going to sting a bit more than normal for Smith-Marsette since it happened against his former team.