Bears and Vikings Live Blog and Analysis

Live updates and analysis from Soldier Field with BearDigest's Gene Chamberlain as the Chicago Bears face playoff elimination and host the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.

Fourth Quarter

• Fields hits Horsted for a TD. No extra point coming. Bears lose 17-9.

• Nagy has now called plays with Fields as starter for two games and they haven't produced a touchdown, only three field goals. The other was the debacle in Cleveland and then he gave it over to Bill Lazor.

• TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!! Bears to get one last chance with the ball. Probably will get to the red zone and give it back on downs again.

• Too high for Byrd to handle it and Fields is off the field without a TD again. Matt Nagy in two games calling plays for the Bears 

• Fields doing too much with his legs and killing too much time. Bears at the 14 on third-and-4 and he overthrows Mooney in the end zone. He was open against zone in the corner, too.

• Fields hits Mooney for a first down at the Vikings 20. Red Zone Warning! Bears ready for another breakdown.

• Kmet taken down and pass broken up, the ball should have been out when he planted his foot and cut. Fields held it a second too long.

• Damien Williams nearly blocks another one but it goes OB at Bears 44,

• Nagy decides to take a gamble that it was a TD and asks for a challenge and it was close but not enough to overturn it. Vikings go three-and-out.

• If the Bears had that field goal that was deflected, they could have kicked a field goal there and been within a touchdown and two-point conversion. As Ditka always said "If ands and buts were candy and nuts..."

• Fields with 184 passing yards to Cousins' 74 but the Bears can't score in the red zone and turned it over twice on fumbles.

• Mooney falls back for a pass and hauls it in along the edge of the end zone but couldn't get second foot down. Vikings ball at the 9.

• Jimmy Graham well covered can't handle a ball Fields threaded on the run. A little high and tough catch. Fourth-and-goal at the 9.

• Fields nearly throws an interception on the run to Patrick Peterson.

• Once again Bears get in the red zone and can't run. Montgomery loses 2. They should have passed on first down. They are too predictable down there.

• Eric Kendricks makes contact with Fields when he slides and the Bears get a call. First down and goal at Minnesota 5. Officials eject Kendricks. What on earth? It was a penalty and helmet-to-helmet hit after Fields slid. I guess he deserved it after looking at the replay.

• Minnesota likes playing tight games so they'll probably let the Bears back in it here. For some reason they manage to make big leads into tight games. 

• Fields threads needle three straight times, last time to Kmet for 23 yards to Vikings 36. Then he hits Byrd to the Vikings 26. 

• Fields sacked and then driven into the ground. Officials have to debate whether it was a penalty. The official says he put his knee down and they call the roughing penalty. They had to debate that call? That was roughing two different ways. They're calling this game like Corrente's crew.

• Hicks' return to team with Goldman has made a difference in limiting Vikings running game. 

• Bryd alertly picks up a ball Minnesota touched but didn't down, but then gets smeared. Bears ball at the 10. Plenty of people would see that play and wonder what he was doing but he can't be called for a fumble after the Vikings touch it first.

• Bears should put Darnell Mooney back for the punts. He's more sure-handed.

• They think better of the decision and will punt. Considering what Byrd just did. I would punt to them too. 

• Hicks with a third-down sack, annihilates Cousins and then dances around well away from the play to avoid being flagged for a taunt. Vikings trying a 54-yard field goal. The Vikings don't have the right personnel on the field.

• Byrd in for Grant on punt return and muffs the punt. Vikings ball at the Bears 36. Game, set and match.

• Marqui Christian snuffs out a pass to Jefferson over the middle. And Cousins paid for the throw with a big hit.

• So far for the Bears it's a case of rookie foul-ups, hot heads and poor officiating, and great plays from Thomas Graham Jr.  Could it be the Bears had someone on their practice squad all along who should have been playing? That doesn't happen, does it? Right.

Third Quarter

• That was the point in a game where there could have been a swing. The Bears offense couldn't take advantage, whether because of Fields or poor play calling. 

• Fields rolls right and is swarmed under after he can't pull the trigger. Vikings ball.

• Bears on third-and-2 runs right into Harrison Smith's blitz and gets a yard. Bears will go for it on fourth-and-1.

• Damien Williams deflects Joseph's punt and it rolls upfield to the Vikings 31. Bears ball.

• A scramble by Cousins and the refs give him the first down even though he went into a fetal position dive and was touched down short. Officials apparently decided the Bears were right and it's fourth-and-1 after deliberating. 

• Not sure why the Vikings are so conservative, maybe the sacks scared them earlier. But they've stuck to runs and shorter passes even though the Bears are obviously challenged with practice squad defensive backs out there.

• Cook breaks through for 6 on first down to get the Vikings out of a hole.

• Another dump-down to Kmet. They punt and Osborn lets it go over his head. The Bears then gang up on Osborn out of bounds and get away without a penalty call. There should have been a flag, but the officials have to be feeling like they're calling this too much in the Vikings favor now and are going to eat that one. Vikings at their own 4, but should have had it at the 19.

• Second-and-22 at the 13. They run a draw to Montgomery for a few yards. 

• Fields shoved down out of bounds and no call. Bears complain and Teven Jenkins started shoving. The Bears are losing their composure. Jenkins gets called for unnecessary roughness. But nothing on Vikings for shoving down Fields as he was out of bounds. Wonnum shoved Fields down.

• Not sure what the Trevis Gipson penalty was. They never showed a replay. He must have said "dang it."

• Vildor blows the coverage on Smith-Marsette. Vikings touchdown. Vildor is up to his old tricks. Doesn't appear he learned from being benched. Thomas Graham Jr. is playing much better than he is. 12 plays two more defensive penalties. Vikings 17, Bears 3

• Roquan Smith and Ogletree knock down Cook after 2 yards. Third-and-2 at the Bears 7. 

• Cook gets 7 up the middle and once again Bears look like they are thrown off by the penalty. 

• After the play, Trevis Gipson flagged for unnecessary roughness. Nagy is hot.

• A 7-yard gain to Osborn with an effective open-field tackle by Graham. Third-and-3 now. Ogletree smashes down Cook and after the play there is another official's flag. Well after the play.

• Vikings get a 19-yard run from Nwangwu. At Bears 46 now. Nwangwu chuns for 11 more. Bears appear to have been thrown for a loop mentally by the penalty. They've been backpedaling since that call made after they had stopped a third down.

• Cook stopped on a third-down run and officials flag the Bears for something but seem uncertain over what actually happened.  They call Teez Tabor for throwing an illegal low block but he wasn't trying to go after the blocker, he was shooting at Cook. What a pathetic call. First down Vikings.  Nagy should yell and get ejected.

• Graham with yet another pass breakup on a cover-2 beater to Jefferson. He leaped and deflected it long before it got near the receiver.

• Hicks swallows up Cook. for no gain. Second-and-18.

• Cook breaks a run for a first down but K.J. Osborn was called for pushing in the back while blocking. Vikings at their own 16 now.

• Dumped down to Kmet again, this for 9 and Bears punt.

• Grant's concussion confirmed. He is out of the game.

• Cole Kmet with a weak block attempt and the Bears lose half a yard. Then Fields backtracks and runs right into a sack. He had plenty of time to throw and two receivers who looked open. Lost 14. Third-and-25.

• Montgomery up the middle for 4 to the Bears 30 on first down. Then he rips through tackles for the first down and 11 yards. He stuck with the blocking on that one right behind Jenkins.

Halftime

• Montgomery has outrushed Dalvin Cook 45-44 yards and Justin Fields has thrown for 93 yards to Cousins' 60, but the turnovers, as Lovie Smith used to remind everyone, the turnovers decide the game.

• High school state champions being honored here at halftime. One of them was Cary-Grove in 6A. They came running out of the tunnel. They were the school that was chanting "Fire Nagy," when they beat Lake Forest in state playoffs.

• Rookie mistakes killing the Bears. Penalties on Teven Jenkins, Justin Fields with two fumbles and Dazz Newsome with a fumble. Jenkins and Newsome, it makes sense because they haven't played this year. Fields needs to protect the ball.

Second Quarter

• Hail Mary time. Cousins with a lame effort on a deep ball and half ends. Vikings 10, Bears 3

• Minnesota gets a quick completion to reach theeir own 47 but faces fourth-and-3 with five seconds left. 

• Miscommunication on throw to Montgomery on the sidelines. So they'll try a 49-yard field goal with 33 seconds left. He stubs it and it falls well short. Why Nagy isn't going for first down on fourth down ... he has nothing to lose. Ball was tipped on the field goal not stubbed but it was very low. 

• A 6-yard pass out of bounds stops the clock and Fields finds Montgomery for only a 2-yard gain in the open field before Harrison Smith arrives and snuffs it out. Third-and-2 at Vikings 31. Bears must burn a timeout with 37 seconds left. They still have one.
• Strip sack by Quinn, No. 16 and then Cousins does what he does best, throws a stupid interception to Bush on a deep ball with no one around. Bears get it at the Vikings 39 with 46 seconds left. Looked like Jay Cutler on the play, and he's often copared to Jay.

•    Vikings get a Nwangwu return all the way to the 32. A 33-yard return. They could get that 3 back easily.

• Jakeem Grant out and being evaluated for a concussion.
• A pass to Byrd at the sidelines sets up a Cairo Santos 34-yard field goal with 1:33 left in half. Ends a 12-play, 5:55-second drive. Vikings 10, Bears 3
• TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!

• Wheel route to Montgomery and he is covered but Fields throws it anyway and somehow Montgomery comes down with it for 12 and first down at the 13. They sent few people out in the route and max-protected for Fields, and he was dead set on not running it even though it looked like he probably could have gone left with it.  Nice throw though over Parry Nickerson.

• An end around by Grant is rather questionable and doesn't do the trick. On fourth-and-1 Bears go for it at the Vikings 25.

• Of course Jenkins false starts. Official said "No. 76" and almost sounded like he was apologizing. Kind of funny voice tone from a ref.

• Mooney always slippery, breaks a tackle by Kendricks over the middle for 9 and sets up third-and-1. 

• A wasted wildcat run by Montgomery for no gain and it's second-and-10 at the Vikings 34. They can't run that wildcat well most of the time.

• Fields with a nice running pass to Khalil Herbert sets up third-and-3 at Vikings 41. He wisely gets down after scrambling for an easy first down of 8 yards.

• Montgomery was stuffed as they insist on running at Sheldon Richardson, who is also a load. He loses one.

• Bears waste a timeout. Maybe the helmet headset is breaking again. It's their favorite thing to have happen.

• Montgomery starts the drive out right with a 16-yard bolt up the middle.

• Two lost fumbles makes it minus-13 turnover ratio on the year for the Bears.

• Grant runs all over the field and loses a yard on the return. The Bears take over at their 35. 

• Graham with a second pass breakup, this one on the deep ball one on one to Imir Smith-Marsette. Vikings punt.

• Sheldon Richardson with the strip and recovery for Minnesota.  Ogletree sticks it to Cook on second down. He seems to be playing better with Hicks and Eddie Goldman in front of him.

• Replay gives the ball to Minnesota and it seemed he did fumble but it was never real clear on the replay.

• After a Mooney end around for 3, Bears face second-and-7 at the 10 and are flagged for offsides while Montgomery is stuffed behind the line on Dazz Newsome The Vikings take the play. Newsome fumbled and the Vikings say he wasn't down yet. They challenged the play. Tough to see the ball on replay. Looks like a fumble by Newsome.

• They have finally got Fields out and moving around. He says it helps activate his game to do that.

• A 27-yard bootleg pass to Darnell Mooney sets the Bears up in the red zone. But they face third-and-3. Fields delivers it over the middle to Mooney for the first down on 6-yard gain to the 13.

• Beautiful pass breakup by Graham in the end zone on throw to Conklin, and on third down Robert Quinn gets sack No. 15. Vikings must settle for a 37-yard Greg Joseph field goal with 13:28 left in the half. An eight-play, 34-yard drive with two defensive penalties. Vikings 10, Bears 0

• Vikings get a gift first down courtesy of Matt Nagy for complaining, no doubt about the bad officiating call on Bush for the pass breakup. 

• Stadium looked empty at kickoff but filled in well. Not many empty seats. Probably just late getting here due to traffic, another of the horrible problems with this stadium site that they could fix in Arlington Heights.

First Quarter

• Cook for 9 up the middle to the Bears 26. Then Cook for 3 for the first down. Ledarius Mack with a tackle. He's in on defense. Quarter ends. Vikings 7, Bears 0

• Deon Bush with the big hit to break up a pass to Conklin and Bears are penalized 15 yards. Replay shows it's an awful call. 

• Cook goes off the left side for 10 and sets up third-and-7 at the 50. 

• Akiem Hicks announces his return to the field from ankle injury. Steamrolls Cousins for a 7-yard  sack on first down. Bull rushed him.

• Michael Pierce stuffs Montgomery. That's a very big load to get around, 340 pounds. Then Fields gets stripped of the ball on a run around right end by Cameron Dantzler and Anthony Barr recovers at the Vikings 47. That's Fields' 11th fumble and it ties him for the NFL lead.

• Bears using Grant's speed again, sent him around left side on an end-around for 13 to Vikings 46. 

• Montgomery straight up the middle for 9 and then for the first down on a 7-yard run off right tackle. And no Jenkins hold on either one.

• Robocop Thornton on hand tonight for the on-field interview.

• Jefferson easy gets behind Deon Bush for a 12-yard TD catch. Good blocking on the play, let Cousins set up and look to the back left corner of the end zone. Eight plays, 54 yards, 4:37 and it's Vikings 7, Bears 0

• Vikings reach the Bears 15 after two more Cook runs and a Kene Nwangwu run puts it at the 12, facing third-and-5.

• They found a way to get it to Cook with a pass, by flaring him out quickly but Bears took him down for a 2-yard gain. Then Jefferson catches an 18-yard pass on third down under the zone coverage.

• Screen to Cook and Roquan Smith sniffs it out for no gain. His specialty when healthy is wiping out screens.

• Minnesota takes over at its 46 after Bears punt. O'Donnell with a lower punt and Vikings K.J. Osborn had 11-yard return.

• Facing third-and-17 at the 9 is not a good situation against league's fifth-best third-down defense. They dump it down to Kmet and he is stopped 5 yards short by about seven people.

• Bears are already in the situation they dread against the Vikings, long down-and-distance.

• Montgomery with a neat cutback but Teven Jenkins held on first play and gets booed by fans. Replay looks kind of picky.

• Bears first series starts at the 16.

• Cousins goes deep to TE Tyler Conklin with Ogletree in tow and overthrows him on third-and-3, so Vikings punt. Pro Bowler Jakeem Grant returns it 6 yards and is hit after he went out of bounds but no call.

• Marqui Christian gets the start at nickel cornerback and Thomas Graham Jr. at right cornerback. Graham with a nice open-field ankle tackle on second-and-6 at the Vikings 42. 

• Kindle Vildor lights up Kirk Cousins after 7 yards on scramble, then Dalvin Cook gets hit the same away by Alec Ogletree on second down. At least the defense came to hit, if none of them no where they are supposed to play. 

 

• Bears kicking off. 

Pregame

INACTIVES

Bears

• WR Marquise Goodwin

• T Jason Peters

• CB Xavier Crawford

Vikings

• QB Kellen Mond 

• WR Adam Thielen 

• LB Chazz Surratt

• OL Wyatt Davis

• Thielen being out is no surprise. Has a high ankle sprain suffered Dec. 5 in loss to Lions. Not gonna play with a high ankle sprain in two weeks.

• It will be interesting to see how RT Germain Ifedi holds up stepping in now to replace Larry Borom, who is on the COVID-19 lost. Ifedi has been out with a knee injury since right after the Week 5 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

• Wayne Messmer singing the national anthem tonight, warming up prior to the game.
• Inactives coming about 5:45-5:50-ish. Bears whole roster is practically inactive but on the COVID list or injured reserve.

Roster Updates

The Bears have made numerous pregame flexes from their practice squad to account for players who are in the COVID-19 protocol.

Active on the roster for Monday night are:

• WR Nsimba Webster

• CB Thomas Graham Jr.
• DB Dee Virgin
• DB Michael Joseph
• DB BoPete Keyes
• OLB Charles Snowden
• DE LaCale London
• WR Dazz Newsome

Activated from injured reserve was:

• T Germain Ifedi

Officially placed on injured reserve was:

• DB DeAndre Houston-Carson

Bears on reserve/COVID-19 list

COVID-19 Bears

QB Andy Dalton

CB Jaylon Johnson

S Tashaun Gipson

CB Duke Shelley

CB Artie Burns

S Eddie Jackson

WR Allen Robinson

DT Mario Edwards Jr.

OLB Sam Kamara*

RB Ryan Nall

T Larry Borom

TE Jesse James

ILB Joel Iyiegbuniwe

WR Isaiah Coulter*

A total of 47 players were placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list today, all as a result of a positive test. That's the most ever for a single day that the NFL has ever had.

Notable names include Travis Kelce, Joey Bosa and Jared Goff.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 20, 2021

Mike Glennon has 1 win since 2014

Glennon's earned over $5.3 mil per win in the NFL (6-24) pic.twitter.com/6WkLGHFFuO

— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) December 20, 2021

• My favorite tweet of 2021
• Kevin Seifert of ESPN just joined the Chris Simms Club.

I wrote about Justin Fields for tonight's game. His rookie season has been bad. I tried to get at how bad, and why, using two decades of QBR data. Never write off a QB after 9 starts, but when your name is on a list with Clausen, Gabbert, and Rosen...
https://t.co/4P6SxvH5nR

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) December 20, 2021

Eh. QBR is not a metric I have ever had much use for. Pretty much just a compilation of raw stats. @ButkusStats has done a much better job tracking Fields compared to other rookies in more viable statistics, and PFF has him with one of the highest % of BTT by a rookie QB ever

— StartKyleOrton (@startkyIeorton) December 20, 2021

• From the start of the season until now, Fields has gradually improved every major stat category and it's easy to find fault by picking out one isolated metric that isn't even a valid tool of measure. The other reason Seifert's story is simply filling space on the internet is Fields passes the eye test. All of those other clowns he was compared to never produced the eye-popping plays he has this year when given a real chance. It's possible he winds up being the Jameis Winston of the Bears, a quarterback who makes big plays but too many mistakes. Then again, if he is, he'd still be a tremendous improvement over what they've had. The bottom line is they need to see him developing with a different offensive coach, whether a new coordinator under a defensive-side head coach or new offensive under an offensive- minded head coach. But haven't we all been through this before in 2017-18?
• SEIFERT'S STORY PLACING JUSTIN FIELDS IN THE JOEY HARRINGTON GROUP

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