7 biggest takeaways from the Vikings win over the Bears in Week 5

Still waiting on a complete game from Cousins

During the first half of Minnesota’s win over the Bears on Sunday, Kirk Cousins delivered a performance that was incredible.

Cousins completed each of his first 17 pass attempts against Chicago, setting a Vikings record that was previously held by Tommy Kramer. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Cousins had a 1.3 percent chance of completing his first 17 throws on Sunday.

Thanks to the immaculate play from their quarterback, Minnesota was able to score a touchdown on each of their three offensive drives of the game to quickly get out to a 21-3 lead over the Bears.

But then came the third quarter (more on this later). On two drives in the third quarter, Cousins completed 4-of-8 pass attempts for just 22 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.

Either Chicago made some defensive adjustments at the half, or the Vikings made some bad adjustments, but the quarterback didn’t come out in the third quarter with the same fire that he had in the first half.

Luckily for Minnesota, Cousins was able to pull himself together enough to help lead the offense on a 17-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in the Vikings scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 2:26 left in the fourth quarter. On the drive, the Minnesota quarterback went 6-for-8 for 57 yards in addition to a one-yard rush into the end zone to put the team ahead 29-22 over the Bears.

This was probably Cousins’ best game of the season so far, but he still needs to work on keeping his play at a consistent level as his performance in the third quarter was almost costly for the Vikings.