After a couple more plays, Blair Walsh kicked the game-winning 36-yard field goal as time expired to give the Vikings their fifth win of the season.
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“Can’t win on the road”. When Mike Zimmer brought up how long the Vikings had gone without a road win in Chicago this week, Robison and Chad Greenway finished the sentence for him. “Keep coming up with them”.
With the win, the Vikings have won three straight to improve to 5-2 on the season.
“At this point, we can’t point fingers”. Contradicting this, Chicago has also given up the third-highest passer rating in the league (108.6). Bridgewater had a tremendous day, completing 25 of 35 passes (71 percent) for 316 yards and two touchdowns.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book Mybookie.ag, the Bears are now 1-point home underdogs after opening as a 2.5-point home underdog. Alshon Jeffery led the Bears with 10 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. Diggs said, “I was preparing myself since day one, and I knew I was going to have to sharpen my blade when it was game time”.
Those, of course, were the points that made the difference.
The changes led to a serious shift for the Bears, who used a few three-tight end sets and chronically had Cutler getting rid of the ball with receivers just a few yards into their routes by design.
“We fought, we battled and our guys competed”, said coach John Fox. “I think that’s kind of a common formula, so yes”, Fox responded to a question about the strategy on offense. Running back Adrian Peterson racked up 98 yards on 19 carries, the majority of which came from a 75-yard rush that was only stopped at the three yard-line in the middle of the third quarter. In his stead, Jeremy Langford took over the team’s primary running back role, carrying the ball 12 times for 46 yards.
Offensively the Bears and Jay Cutler have struggled all season long.
Forte’s value to the Bears is enormous.
Houston rookie first-round pick Kevin Johnson had his first career interception and likely saved a touchdown with a hard hit on Kendall Wright after a catch in the third quarter.
Jay Cutler is the best quarterback in the history of the Chicago Bears franchise, and after this season, will only have one more year remaining under contract.
That gave the Bears a 20-13 lead. “It’s not a lack of effort or a lack of ‘want-to.’ It’s just in key moments, you gotta make plays”. “He played his (butt) off”. But the Lions’ ills seem to be more acute, especially with a banged-up offensive line having trouble protecting Matthew Stafford, who was sacked seven times last week by the Vikings.
Cameron Meredith, Bruce Gaston, Ka’Deem Carey and Terrance Mitchell are also on the Bears’ inactives list for the game. The big play was a 35-yard reception for Johnson, who made a great adjustment to Bridgewater’s throw with Rolle in the area.
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If the first quarter belonged to Detroit, the rest of the game belonged to Minnesota.
