3 Takeaways From Vikings' Win Over Bears: Defense Bails Out Quiet Offense
The Vikings picked up their second win of the 2023 season on Sunday, taking down the Bears 19-13 behind five sacks and three takeaways from Brian Flores' defense. Outside of a nice touchdown drive in a two-minute situation to end the first half, this was a rough game for Kevin O'Connell's offense, but the defense bailed them out with a dominant, disruptive performance.
Here are three takeaways from a much-needed divisional victory.
The defense finally capitalized on opportunities
In each of the Vikings' losses this season, there were opportunities for the defense to make an impact play or two that could've potentially changed the outcome. A couple that stand out are Akayleb Evans' dropped-INT-turned-touchdown against the Chargers and Camryn Bynum's mistimed jump last week against the Chiefs.
Needing a victory in Chicago to keep the season alive, Minnesota's defense was able to capitalize on several opportunities this time around.
Late in the first half, Jordan Hicks made an impressive over-the-shoulder catch for an interception that was created by Danielle Hunter hitting Justin Fields as he released the ball. That play led to the Vikings' first touchdown. After Fields got injured in the third quarter, the Vikings sent pressure at rookie backup quarterback Tyson Bagent, with Josh Metellus hitting him from behind and knocking the ball out. Hicks was able to scoop it up and race 42 yards for his first touchdown since his rookie year in 2015. Then, with the Bears driving for a possible go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter, Byron Murphy Jr. secured his first interception as a Viking to all but seal the deal.
"We were switching the looks up," Hicks said. "Flo’s always got a great plan. He called it great. Getting them to third down, that was big. And then making the plays that came to us. There were opportunities out there. Every week, there’s been opportunities, and we haven’t capitalized on them as a defense. That went into the message that we focused on this week."
The Vikings had five sacks, including two by Hunter, who is tied for the NFL lead with eight in six games. And for the first time all season, they won the turnover differential, forcing three takeaways to Chicago's one.
"One of our goals the past couple weeks has been inch our way back in the (turnover) differential," Hicks said. "First game of (being positive), first step there. That’s a team stat. We’ve got a long way to go."
He's right. Even with this +2 showing, the Vikings are still at -7 through six weeks.
Hunter, Metellus, Murphy, and Hicks all got game balls from O'Connell in the postgame locker room.
"They just never flinched," O'Connell said. "They made a bunch of big, big-time plays."
The offense was a mess without its best player
This was not a pretty performance from the Vikings' offense. Facing a Bears defense that came into the game ranked 31st in DVOA, they could only manage 220 total yards. A 2-for-13 mark on third downs resulted in the Vikings settling for three long field goals attempts and punting five times.
"I felt like we would have a positive play, get to a manageable down and distance and then we'd have a negative play, whether it was a penalty or go backwards a little bit, and now we sort of shot ourselves in the foot to be able to extend the drive," Kirk Cousins said. "Stringing plays together was hard for us to do."
This was the Vikings' first test without the injured Justin Jefferson — and they failed it. Cousins was sacked twice and could only manage roughly six yards per attempt. Too often, he felt he had to settle for a checkdown. Cousins didn't get much help from his pass-catchers; Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, and Alexander Mattison all dropped catchable balls.
Perhaps of even greater concern is that the Vikings netted just 46 rushing yards. Mattison could only manage 44 yards on 18 carries, finding very little room to operate against the Bears' front. That led to the offense finding itself in third down after third down, where they really struggled.
"Offensively, we've gotta be better," O'Connell said. "Didn't run it all that well today. Didn't handle the movement. Didn't handle a lot of the things we anticipated that we did see."
"It was kind of a revolving door of missed assignments from some of our more reliable players," he added. "Our guys are excited to get the win, but our offense will be hungry to go back to work and make sure we rectify some of those things because, honestly, the way Kirk was throwing it today, (I) feel like it could have been a much bigger day."
The Vikings didn't seem to handle the Bears' pressure very well, so Cousins sometimes didn't have time to let routes develop downfield. Then there were several plays that just weren't made.
With no Jefferson, the Vikings saw different defensive looks than the ones they're used to seeing. "They were even on both sides," said Addison, who caught Minnesota's only offensive touchdown. The Vikings felt like they were prepared for that, though. They just didn't execute well enough, which will be a focus heading into a tough challenge against the 49ers' elite defense next week.
"Felt like there were some (opportunities)," O'Connell said. "We're going to continue to press forward. (I've) got a lot of confidence in our pass game. We'll detail it up. I'll give those guys some better calls, and hopefully we'll improve rapidly because that's my expectation with that group, especially when Kirk played the way he did today. Should have been a lot more out there."
The Vikings' offense really struggled in Sunday's win over the Bears at Soldier Field.
It's hard to feel confident moving forward
With this win, the Vikings are 2-4 and can feel like they have a bit of life as they head into Week 7. Realistically, though, how can one be confident in this team moving forward?
The Vikings have two wins. They've come against arguably the two worst teams in the league, who have a combined record of 1-11. In both of those victories, they've needed a defensive touchdown to survive by a one-score margin. Against the other four teams on the schedule, the Vikings have found a way to lose. Although both the offense and defense have shown signs of playmaking ability, a certain level of consistency hasn't been present with either unit all year.
Offensively, the Vikings looked like a complete mess without Jefferson. They struggle to run the football. They struggle to take care of the football (Cousins' fumble today was the Vikings' league-worst 13th turnover). They struggle to catch the football. It just doesn't seem like a very good unit, which is concerning in year two under O'Connell.
Defensively, the Vikings made a bunch of plays against the Panthers and Bears, while mostly struggling against good teams like the Eagles and Chargers and Chiefs. Flores has proven to be an upgrade at coordinator and guys like Hunter and Hicks are having excellent seasons, but the overall talent level — especially at spots like defensive tackle and cornerback — still leaves quite a bit to be desired.
The Vikings had a chance to bury the Bears in the second half and prevent things from even getting interesting down the stretch. They couldn't do it. That feels like a sign of a bad team. When you play one-score games every single week, your margin for error is so slim.
Now the 49ers are coming to town for Monday Night Football. A loss there would drop the Vikings to 2-5 ahead of games against the Packers, Falcons, and Saints.
Sure, it's not out of the question that the Vikings could find some improvement on both sides of the ball and get into the playoff mix. On paper, they have the pieces to do it. At the same time, given Jefferson's injury and everything we've seen from this team through six weeks, does anyone really believe they're going to make it happen?
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