The Vikings’ Dominant Defense Haunted Caleb Williams All Monday Night
Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images
The Vikings have now won back-to-back multi-score games for the first time this season, beating the Chicago Bears 30-12 on Monday Night Football. From the get-go, the Vikings held firm control of this game, setting the tone by stopping the Bears on a 4th-&-1 to give the offense the ball in Bears territory. Though the offense only came away with three points on their first drive, they would capitalize on another short field after forcing a Caleb Williams fumble on the next drive.
That wound up being the story of the game, as the Bears’ offense never really looked threatening. Every time they would string together some positive momentum, they would inevitably shoot themselves in the foot. While this was far from a flawless win, it felt good to see the Vikings dominate a bad team and have a relatively relaxed fourth quarter where both sides could pull their starters and operate on cruise control.
Here are some takeaways from the game.
The Defense Made Williams See Ghosts
The Vikings’ defense showed that they’re among the most underrated units in football. While they weren’t playing an elite offense, they still put their foot on the Bears’ neck early, not letting their offense get into the game at all, and making key stops every time Chicago threatened to score.
Again, stuffing D’Andre Swift for no gain on 4th-&-1 at their own 39-yard line may have been the play of the game. On the next drive, with the Bears inside the Vikings’ 30-yard line, Jonathan Greenard took advantage of rookie left tackle Kiran Amegadjie to come around the edge and make a strip sack on Williams, allowing Blake Cashman to recover the ball and put the offense in Bears territory.
The only way the Bears could get anything going was when emphasizing screen passes or end arounds to D.J. Moore. Williams was abysmal through the first half as the Bears offense went 0-for-7 on third and fourth down, failing to convert two 4th-&-1s. Williams played maybe his worst half of football ever, recording an Average Depth of Target of 0.1 yards in the first half. He still only went 7-for-9 with 61 yards.
Williams may not have thrown a pick and did get a garbage-time touchdown in the second half, but he was chased around by Greenard and the defense en route to an inefficient night.
Offensive Line Looked Shaky
After Christian Darrisaw went down with a season-ending injury, everyone expected the Vikings’ offensive line to take a step back compared to the great standard they had set to start the year. But with the addition of Cam Robinson to fill in at left tackle, the line has still been largely respectable in Darrisaw’s absence, but Monday night was the exception.
Robinson did not play at his best this week, as he was responsible for four flags all by himself going up against Montez Sweat. And Robinson was far from their only problem. The interior offensive line looked vulnerable, with a banged-up group of Bears defensive tackles seemingly doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Even when the line got it together long enough to make some progress, a penalty would drag them back. Brian O’Neill’s injury scare didn’t help things, either, as David Quessenberry looked dreadful when having to step into relieve the star right tackle.
Sam Darnold was often hit when he tried stepping into throws, and even when he avoided, he had to maneuver around in the pocket. While the line was bad, Darnold should share responsibility, as well. The field general struggled to read obvious blitzes and adjust his protection accordingly.
Where Was the Running Game?
Despite having the lead for a majority of the game, Kevin O’Connell didn’t do the best job when it came to play-calling. The Bears’ offense ended up having more rushing attempts at the half despite the Vikings having a commanding lead.
The offense and O’Connell wanted to air the ball out all game. When the offense got too aggressive, forcing the ball through the air, they struggled to move the ball and got caught with consecutive three-and-outs. It wasn’t until the second half, when they got back to running the ball on earlier downs, that Aaron Jones and Cam Akers were able to fully wear down the Bears’ defense.
The decision to abandon the run early on is confusing, especially after Jones put up 106 rushing yards on the same team three weeks earlier. We saw how when Minnesota ran the ball effectively, the Bears were forced to respect the threat on the ground and commit more men in the box. Once they did that, KOC and Darnold were able to counter effectively, like how they did on Darnold’s screen to Justin Jefferson on 1st-&-10 in the fourth quarter, where the stud wide receiver exploited some rare single coverage for a 21-yard gain. It’s yet another reminder for O’Connell to keep his play-calling balanced.
Up Next