Sharp Start, Dramatic Finish Allow Vikings To Take Sole Possession Of First Place

Here are the facts: The Minnesota Vikings are alone in first place in the NFC North following their 29-22 victory over the Chicago Bears. Quarterback Kirk Cousins set a team record by starting the game with 17 consecutive completions. Defensive back Cameron Dantzler clinched the victory by tearing the ball out of ex-Viking Ihmir Smith-Marsette’s arms and ending a Chicago possession that could have ended with a game-tying touchdown.

There are a number of things the Vikings can celebrate as the team prepares for a trip to South Florida to take on a Miami Dolphins team that is down to its No. 3 quarterback. This is a team that is not destined to give up points at the end of the first half and the fourth quarter that shift the game to the opponent’s favor. That had been the team’s signature during the 2021 season when they consistently botched things in end of half/game situations.

Give credit to rookie head coach Kevin O’Connell for eliminating that brutal habit. Whether it is his scientific planning or happenstance, the Vikings are no longer programmed to give it up at the worst possible time – even though they did give up a TD to the Bears with 1:08 to go in the first half. O’Connell also demonstrated his play-calling skill throughout the first half as the Vikings played their best football in recent memory in building a first-half 21-3 lead.

Then it stopped. After Darnell Mooney of the Bears made a circus catch that gave his team a 39-yard gain on the first play after the two-minute warning, the Vikings lost their confidence. Instead of building on their first-half performance that saw wide receiver Justin Jefferson run freely in the Chicago secondary and make catch after catch, the Vikings played tentative football on both sides of the ball.

The Bears were able to rally behind their second-year quarterback Justin Fields, who played the best game of his NFL career. He completed 15 of 21 passes for 208 yards with 1 touchdown and also ran 8 times for 47 yards. There was a feeling that a game which was clearly in the win column was about to slip away.

That notion gained credibility when Chicago PK Cairo Santos connected on a 51-yard field goal that gave the Bears a 22-21 lead with 9:26 remaining. But instead of going on a 3-and-out or turning the ball over with a sickening interception, Cousins led the Vikings on a 17-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took seven minutes off the clock.

Cousins completed the drive by scoring on a one-yard sneak and then he hit Jefferson with the vital two-point conversion that gave Minnesota a seven-point advantage.

Cousins finished the game by completing 32 of 41 passes for 296 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception in addition to his go-ahead TD run. He knows that his team missed an opportunity to put the game away after building their early advantage.

“We need to play better through the stretch of the games so that we can pull away and not live in these games in the last two minutes,” Cousins said. “That will be the challenge moving forward. If we get out ahead of somebody, how can we just pull away and not linger?”

After the quarterback put Minnesota ahead, there was more than enough time remaining for the Bears to respond. However, as previously noted, this is not the same old Vikings. Fields appeared to have Chicago on the move, but Dantzler put an end to the comeback possibility when he took the ball out of Smith-Marsette’s hands.

The play did not happen by accident as Dantzler was very familiar with the receiver’s habits since he played and practiced with the team last year. “He’s loose with the ball,” Dantzler said of Smith-Marsette. “I saw an opportunity and took it.”

As a result, the Vikings clinched the game on a big play by the defense. Skol!

Are the first-place Vikings a great team? Not yet, but there are signs of improvement that bode well for the future.