Sense of Urgency Maxes Out for Bears Against Vikings

With a fourth straight loss Monday night, Bears would repeat last year's four-game losing streak and completely waste their strong start to the season

Coach Matt Nagy had a discussion with his team this week.

It had nothing to do with giving play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor; he only told a few players about that.

The discussion was broader in scope and dealt with the importance of the game the Bears (5-4) play Monday night at Soldier Field against the Minnesota Vikings (3-5), as they try to prevent a four-game losing streak. 

It had to do with a sense of urgency in this game above others.

"It's for real, and not that any of the other ones aren't, but we're at a point right now at 5-4 where we have a division game against a good football team in the division," Nagy said. 'Right now, with the way things have gone, losing three games, we're willing to do whatever we need to do collectively together to get that win.

"So when you say right now, this game versus Week 1, yeah, there's a sense of urgency for this. And the guys understand that."

The Bears have played only one divisional game and won in Week 1. So the ability to gain divisional tiebreakers still exists.

The ability to win the division is still there, although from the way they've played the last three games on offense this looks increasingly unlikely.

They even have a conference tiebreaker possibility working against some NFC teams because they are 5-2 in the NFC, and 0-2 out of the conference. Their bye week comes after this game, giving them a chance to heal up some of the many injuries which struck so suddenly.

"At the same point in time, regardless of what happens after the game, win, lose, or draw, it doesn't take away from what happens to us in the bye week and what happens after that," Nagy said. "But our guys know, trust me, we've made it a big point this week that this is where we’re at, this is what we're set up for and we control it. We really do.

"So what are we gonna do about it?"

One thing they've done is taken the drastic step on offense by changing play callers. Tight end Jimmy Graham recalled being part of this in the past in New Orleans when Sean Payton temporarily abandoned play calling.

"I remember that; not much changed," Graham said. "It enabled him to focus on some little details, defense special teams, everything; just kind of focus on the overall team."

The rest of the Bears need little help.

Their kicking game seems solidified as Cairo Santos has made 12 straight field goals. Their defense seems to have rediscovered how to stop the run again with a pair of strong efforts against good runners. They'll face another in Dalvin Cook.

"He likes looking for cutback lanes," Bears safety Eddie Jackson said. "If you give him a little space, he can be gone in a second. For us, we just have to run to the ball, 11 hats to the ball. And that's the emphasis this week, is everyone to the ball."

The Vikings have been where the Bears are now, in free fall. It seems over now after two straight wins.  

"They started to look comfortable again," safety Tashaun Gipson said. "Those first couple of games, they looked out of sync."

So it's on the Bears offense to provide at least some support with their new play caller, without injured running back David Montgomery and with what likely will be a different starting offensive line for the third straight week, the fourth different one this season.

"For us, we just got to get back to business and put our best foot forward," Graham said. "Just keep grinding, man. We gotta just keep believing and make stuff happen."

If they don't, the big picture Nagy talked about looks bleak. 

With a win, even a loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field after their bye week would leave the Bears with a winning record with some less formidable opponents in weeks to come. 

With four straight losses they fall to .500 and duplicate last year's midseason slide, and if they also lost to Green Bay they would be 5-6 on the year. That's where they were after 11 games last season.

The playoffs would start to look like a remote possibility.

"I think that this losing streak has been humbling, for us to start off the way that we have," Gipson said. "You know this NFL, you can go from here to here in a matter of a quick second. So I think that this is huge."

It's something everyone understands, Nagy's talk or not. 

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