Minnesota Vikings: Studs and duds from Week 15 vs. Bears
Minnesota Vikings studs and duds from a demoralizing loss to the Bears.
The Minnesota Vikings entered Week 15 of the regular season taking on an NFC North opponent in a big divisional contest while also looking to remain in the playoff picture in the conference with a few games left to play this year.
Coming off of a loss on the road a week ago, Minnesota aimed to get back on track and return to the .500 mark on the season in the final regular-season home game against a team with an identical record going into the contest.
The Vikings returned to US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for the final time of the 2020 season on Sunday afternoon in Week 15 while hosting the Chicago Bears for a battle for second place in the division standings and a shot to remain in the NFC playoff picture.
By the end of the game, the Bears were able to take the road contest by a score of 33-27 while evening the regular-season series with the Vikings on the year.
To open up the first half of play, Chicago took an early lead against Minnesota at US Bank Stadium, holding a 10-7 lead after the first quarter while holding a 10-3 advantage in the second quarter to carry a 20-10 lead going into halftime.
In the second half, Minnesota was able to open the final two frames by outscoring Chicago 10-7 in the third quarter to try and make things interesting late while attempting to climb back into the game. In the fourth, the Vikings held a 7-6 advantage but that wasn’t enough to even things up.
With the important NFC North contest now in the books, let’s go back and look at some studs and duds that appeared throughout the game for the Vikings.
Stud: Dalvin Cook
We may be in Week 15 of the regular season, but Dalvin Cook just hasn’t slowed down while leading the running game for the Vikings. On Sunday afternoon against Chicago, he once again did that and paced the way for the offense with his legs.
In the game, Minnesota’s running game finished with a total of 28 carries for 158 yards on the ground, with Cook yet again leading that unit. The running back finished the game with 24 rush attempts for 132 total yards, also finding the endzone once.
In what ended up being a battle of the running backs between David Montgomery and Cook, the Vikings running back did a nice job in matching what the other talented running back was doing on the other side of the field.
Dud: Not getting defensive stops early on
The thing that was an issue for the Vikings especially in the first half of the game was their inability to get stops on the defensive side of the ball. In the first matchup between the two teams a few weeks ago, Minnesota was able to do a nice job in holding Chicago’s offense in check. This time around, most notably in the first half, that wasn’t so much the case.
The Vikings defense wasn’t able to hold the Bears offense off the scoreboard it seemed like for the entirety of the first half, with Chicago scoring on multiple consecutive drives either with a touchdown or a field goal. The Bears ended up recording 10 points in both the first and second quarters.
The Vikings defensive unit has struggled this season, although they have played better as of late. But the start to the game on Sunday in Week 15 wasn’t a great performance.