The Chicago Bears defeated the Minnesota Vikings 21-13 on Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago. For the Bears it was an important win; it was critical they stopped the bleeding. The Bears did just that, but they did it in rather unimpressive fashion.
Marc Trestman was smart; he took the game mostly out of Jay Cutler’s hands and gave the Vikings a stead dose of Matt Forte all game long. Forte ran well as the Bears controlled the ball and time of possession, which was a key in gaining the victory. The Bears almost doubled Minnesota’s time of possession.
The Bears were able to grab a lead in the second quarter and force Teddy Bridgewater to try and play from behind, something he is not ready to do at this stage in his career. To credit the coaches, the game plan was smart, but it will be curious what the coaches do moving forward. So where does that leave the Bears?
If you want to try and squeeze a positive out of the Bears’ two blowout losses it’s that the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers are absolutely destroying teams right now. The Patriots have followed up the destruction of the Bears with impressive blowouts of the division-leading Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts, and the Packers put up 53 points against the playoff-bound Philadelphia Eagles.
Chicago sits at 4-6 with a very winnable game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week, but does a two-game winning streak and a 5-6 record really mean anything? All the Bears really proved is that they are a better team than the Vikings who are without their best offensive weapon (Adrian Peterson) and are starting a rookie quarterback.
In all honesty, there wasn’t much the Bears did during that football game that would inspire fans to think that they have turned the corner. The Bears proved against the Patriots and Packers (arguably the NFL’s two best teams) that they aren’t anywhere close to being able to play at that level, but against other teams that are struggling as much as Chicago is, the Bears can be competitive.
Cutler still turned the ball over twice, but the Vikings’ offense was unable to turn those turnovers into points. The defense held the Vikings to 13 points, but there aren’t many tremendous positives to take away from the game. The defensive line had a better performance, putting solid pressure on Bridgewater and clogging running lanes for the Vikings’ running backs, but the defense did not inspire confidence; it seemed to be more of a case that the Vikings offense was struggling in multiple aspects of the game.
There isn’t too much to take away from this game. The Bears proved they aren’t the Rochester Jeffersons. They aren’t an embarrassment to the league, but they aren’t a good team either. The Bears’ next test comes on Thanksgiving against the Detroit Lions. If the Bears beat Tampa and go into Ford Field and beat Matthew Stafford and the Lions to even their record at 6-6, then you can start listening to arguments that the Bears might turn this season around. But unless that happens, the Bears still look like a team that is going to finish 6-10 or 7-9 and be eliminated from playoff contention in early December.
Bill Zimmerman is a Chicago Bears writer for www.RantSports.Com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.
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