Five big takeaways from Chicago Bears’ comeback win over Minnesota Vikings

MINNEAPOLIS – Justin Fields had not led a game-winning, fourth-quarter drive in more than a calendar year. He had done so only twice in his NFL career.

On Monday night, he did just that in a prime time win over the Minnesota Vikings, 12-10, at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Bears won to improve to 4-8 on the season. Fields led the offense on a 66-yard field goal drive in the final two minutes. Kicker Cairo Santos nailed the 30-yard game-winner, his fourth made field goal of the night.

Here are the five big takeaways from Monday night’s Bears victory.

1. Justin Fields delivers when it matters

Facing a third-and-10 at the Vikings’ 49-yard line, someone needed to make a play. Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy went to one of the most reliable plays on the call sheet.

Receiver Tyler Scott cut, lined up in the slot, cut across the field and took a defender with him. It left top receiver DJ Moore wide open over the middle. Fields zipped a pass to Moore for a 36-yard gain well into field goal range.

“That’s just a play that goes all the way back to training camp,” Fields said. “Guys executed at a perfect level.”

The Bears wound down the clock as much as they could and set up an easy game-winner for Santos. For Fields, it was redemption. He lost fumbles on each of the Bears’ two previous possessions.

His two previous game-winning, fourth-quarter drives both came last season. In Week 1 against the 49ers last year, he led a go-ahead drive early in the fourth quarter. In Week 3, the offense benefited from a Roquan Smith interception that gave the Bears the ball already in field goal range. This one was easily the most impressive fourth-quarter drive of Fields’ career.

“I really just wanted to prove to my teammates that I had their back,” Fields said. “The way the defense was playing all game, I had to come back and at least give us a chance at the end. I mean, it felt great. Those two fumbles, adversity’s hitting. After the second one, I was sick to my stomach. I’m not going to lie.”

The second fumble happened with just over three minutes remaining, but the Bears defense did it’s job and forced a three-and-out to set up the winning drive.

“[Fields] had a great bounce back,” Moore said. “He had the fumble and then he came back like a true leader does.”

2. Takeaways keep coming

A week after picking off Lions quarterback Jared Goff three times in Detroit, the Bears forced another four interceptions against Josh Dobbs and the Vikings. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, safety Jaquan Brisker, cornerback Kyler Gordon and linebacker TJ Edwards all had interceptions.

Johnson started the evening off with a pick on a ball Dobbs probably shouldn’t have thrown. Johnson made a leaping effort. Later, Brisker picked off a ball that tipped off the hands of Vikings receiver Jordan Addison.

In the second half, Gordon caught one just inches off the ground and Edwards picked off a tipped pass late in the third quarter.

Brisker celebrated his interception by running toward the Vikings fans and doing their signature “Skol” clap right back at them.

“That was my plan before the game,” Brisker said. “If I got a pick or anything like that, I was gonna Skol clap. You know, I like to make people mad.”

The Bears defense held Minnesota to 2-for-9 on third downs and 0-for-2 on fourth downs. The Vikings scored the game’s only touchdown with just under six minutes to go – a pass from Dobbs to tight end T.J. Hockenson – but the Bears defense believed they could still win this game, even with the offense’s struggles.

“We never flinched,” Johnson said. “Just put it on us. At the end of the day, you can’t win a game if you don’t score. That’s our mentality every time we step onto the field.”

3. Santos rebounds from early miss

Santos began his day on the game’s opening drive with a missed field goal try from 48 yards. It was uncharacteristic for a kicker who had missed only one of his previous 20 field goal tries this season.

The 32-year-old kicker rebounded, going four-for-four the rest of the night. That included a 55-yard field goal that matched a career high and the game-winner from 30 yards. His two other kicks came from 25 yards and 39 yards out.

“It’s the life of a kicker,” Santos said. “It’s not a perfect craft. We strive to be, but we have to have short memories. Just thankful I got the opportunity throughout the game to keep doing what I do.”

Santos pinned the lone miss on himself. The snap and hold were smooth, he simply didn’t finish the kick.

Santos said his max distance during the game, which was played indoors, was 60 yards. He needed the Bears to pick up at least seven yards on the third-and-10 play in the final minutes. When Fields connected with Moore for a 36-yard gain, that made the game-winner much less nerve-wracking.

4. The Bears’ lateral passing attack

The Vikings blitz more than any other team in the NFL. They load up the pressure on the offensive line, and everybody across the league knows it.

In Matt Eberflus’ mind, there are two ways to beat that. He can add extra protection blocking for the quarterback, but that limits the number of players running routes in space. Or he can throw a pass out quickly and try to find numbers advantages out wide.

For much of the game, the Bears did the later. Fields’ average intended air yards on his 37 pass attempts was 2.7 yards, his lowest total of the season – lower than his Week 1 total against Green Bay. The Bears threw the ball sideways, and they did it a lot, looking to negate those blitzers up front.

“It’s just the pressure,” Eberflus said when asked about the plan of attack. “The looks that they give you, the pressure that they give you. Six men up, seven men up [near the line of scrimmage], they’re all threatening right there.”

This plan of attack was tailored toward beating the Vikings. It wasn’t always pretty.

On what could’ve been Fields’ backbreaking fumble late in the game, the Bears were facing a third-and-10 when the QB looked to scramble. They were only in that position because a short, lateral pass on second down lost four yards.

Several such plays, of course, gained yards. But the fact remains the Bears didn’t score a touchdown on Monday. The late completion to Moore was the only explosive play down field. In all, Fields attempted 16 passes that didn’t go beyond the line of scrimmage.

5. TJ Edwards is on a roll

Edwards, the linebacker from Lake Villa, picked off Dobbs late in the third quarter and helped set up a Bears field goal. But it was the play prior that made the interception possible.

On third-and-6 near midfield, the Vikings sent running back Ty Chandler in motion. Edwards, playing man-to-man defense, ran all the way with Chandler across the formation and made a clutch open-field tackle on the far sideline. It went for a 3-yard gain and it forced the Vikings to go for it on fourth-and-three.

“That was my guy on that play and as soon as I saw him – they were getting us in empty [formations] and trying to read what coverage we were in all night – as soon as I saw him take off, I knew that he was the primary on that and I had to get on my horse,” Edwards said.

He did just that.

Edwards finished the game with six tackles, one quarterback hit, one tackle for loss, an interception and a pass defended.

Edwards had an interception last week against Detroit, too. He’s playing his best football right now. His 125 combined tackles through 12 games are just one tackle behind Roquan Smith as the top tackler in the NFL.

He’s playing well, and the defense is playing well with him.

“It’s belief,” Edwards said. “We understand that we’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to get turnovers.”