“I wouldn’t say we have to learn how to win. We’ve got to learn how to finish”, Bearslinebacker Pernell McPhee said. I will have to confirm the stats when I can see them, but I only remember the guy Kalil was lined up against get one pressure on Teddy Bridgewater, and no sacks. After injuries opened the door for Diggs to get his first National Football League start, the receiver has not looked back as he remains their best playmaker through two games.
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“He put that 39-inch vertical to work today”, Bridgewater said.
That gives the Minnesota Vikings, who are competing to be in the playoffs right now, an edge over the Bears.
Bears E vs. Vikings: The Vikings don’t seem to pass the eye test, and more importantly, the statheads will tell you Minnesota isn’t a legitimate 4-2 – the Vikings are buried in both the Massey-Peabody and Football Outsiders power ranks. Bridgewater, a rookie at the time, threw for only 158 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the loss.
-Robbie Gould’s missed 51-yarder with under two minutes left in the third quarter may have come back to bite the Bears.
The game ball for the player of the game could’ve gone to a number of players.
The Minnesota Vikings pulled out another victory thanks to a last second field goal by kicker Blair Walsh. He made one heck of a 19-yard catch in this game on a handsome Cutler strike in between two Viking defenders.
“I’ve only played there one year, but I know last year, the game clock going out made it hard last year”, Bridgewater said. You know, he catches a lot of flack all the time, but the guy just goes out there every single week and gives it every thing he has. “That’s not something I want to make a living doing but you get over it pretty quickly whenever you get the touchdown and you get a few endorphins going so I was okay”. However, Langford’s drop on the team’s final drive of the game forced a punt and the rest was history. Note that Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan torched Lovie Smith’s defense in a pair of easy wins a year ago, and anything close to a repeat performance suggests Atlanta can handle this reasonable price. We have a lot of confidence in Jeremy moving forward.
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Marcus Sherels had a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown for Minnesota, which had dropped seven in a row at Soldier Field. Bridgewater was 7 for 10 for 114 yards in the final period. Just before halftime, he threw a terrible pick that the Bears immediately converted into a game tying touchdown, and that sequence changed the entire dynamic of the game, until the end. “We fought back, scratched back”. Cutler completed 22 of 33 passes for 211 yards with one gorgeous touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery (10 catches, 116 yards) and one 4-yard touchdown run where he lowered his shoulder into Vikings safety Harrison Smith at the goal line. “We’re not far away at all”. RB Matt Forte has not had great success against Minnesota, he has carried the ball 244 times in the last 11 games against the Vikes without scoring a single TD. A fan asked if he was OK, and he said, “Yeah”.
