The Minnesota Vikings needed another clutch late game drive to beat their division rival Chicago 29-22. Minnesota got out to an early 21-3 lead, looking unstoppable on offense. Unfortunately for them, the Bears righted the ship and scored 19 unanswered points taking a 22-21 lead in the fourth quarter. With two and half minutes left the Vikings scored a touchdown and converted a two-point conversion to take a 29-22 lead. Cameron Dantzler Sr. ripped the ball out of the hands of Ihmir Smith-Marsette and recovered the ball to seal the Vikings win, sending them to 4-1. With that, lets take a look at my takeaways from the Vikings week 5 win of the Bears.
Home Sweet Home
U.S Bank Stadium has been great to the Vikings. So far this year they are 3-0 at home and all against their division. The Minnesota Vikings have swept the NFC north at home this season and won’t play there again until they host Arizona in week eight. The Vikings beat Green Bay week one 23-7, then the Lions 28-24 in week three, and then the Bears 29-22.
With their win over the Chicago Bears the Vikings are now 4-1 with their only loss to the Eagles who are the only undefeated team at 5-0. Minnesota will need to keep their home winning streak going as they have some tough opponents coming up in the second half of their schedule like the Cowboys and Giants.
The Vikings Are Clutch
The Vikings during the last three weeks needed late game winning drives and did what they have needed to during that period to get the wins. In week three against Detroit, Minnesota drove 56 yards in 25 seconds ending it with a 28-yard touchdown to a wide open K.J. Osborn, scoring with 0:45 seconds left. The Vikings defense then got an interception to seal the win.
https://twitter.com/A_TwiceKSTP/status/1574184450828681216
Week four saw two late game drives resulting in scores. The first was a ten play 75-yard drive ending in a Justin Jefferson 3-yard rushing touchdown with 4:15 left in the game. The next was an eight play, 53-yard drive that ended in a 47-yard field goal by Greg Joseph with 0:24 seconds left. The Saints would then miss a 61-yard game tying field goal on a double doink.
https://twitter.com/JasonMGro/status/1576612627140472832
This week, we saw a 17 play, 75-yard drive lasting seven minutes ending in a Kirk Cousins 1-yard rushing touchdown with 2:26 left followed by a 2-point conversion. Minnesota’s defense again would step up, recovering a fumble to win the game.
https://twitter.com/Vikings/status/1579212357276151810
So, what do we see here? Minnesota has been very clutch when in close games this season. When Chicago went up late, I wasn’t concerned because I’ve seen them do it twice before. They come up big when they need to. The drives they have are different (which is great). They have had quick 25 second and 1:27 drives but have also had seven and five-minute drives as well. They can move the ball quickly down the field and score or drag it out for the slow kill.
That seven-minute drive was awesome and one of my favorite things to see a team do. To slowly wind the clock down and just move the ball with your opponent unable to do anything are such killers. I hope the Vikings can continue to do this more as the season goes on, because it is one of the most effective ways to win a game.
The Offense Is Really Close To Being Unstoppable
Yes, you read that right and no I’m not crazy. What I saw early in the game Sunday was what I was expecting to see from Minnesota’s offense this season. A pick your poison offense of either getting burned by the run or pass. Minnesota scored 21 points on their first three drives of the game. Each drive averaged over six minutes, ten plays, and 77 yards. By the time the Vikings scored on their third possession there was 7:20 left in the second quarter, just controlling the time of possession.
If you really look at the game. Minnesota really had two possessions where they didn’t attempt to score. They punted late in the second quarter and Cousins threw an interception in the fourth. If they made those two missed field goals, it would have made this game 35-22. Those two plays made the offense look like they weren’t playing as good as they did. Four of eight drives were touchdowns, and they should have scored on six out of the eight them. If they made those two field goals, I don’t think Kirk makes that bad throw that was picked off.
Minnesota’s offense on Sunday had 429 yards of total offense with 312 passing and 117 rushing and averaged 5.8 yards per play. On the season the Vikings are averaging 23 points per game and 374.4 yards of total offense (272.6 passing and 101.8 rushing). Oh, and Kirk Cousins went 17 for 17 to start the game so yeah, he’s looking great. Minnesota is so close to being able to do what they did in the first half in every game for the entire game. This offense is for real and coming off their bye week I think we’ll see their true form.
A Look Ahead
Next week the Vikings travel to Miami to take on the Dolphins (3-2). The Dolphins are coming off a rough loss to the Jets 40-17. The Dolphins’ quarterback will be in question as to whether either Teddy Bridgewater or Tua Tagovailoa will be able to play due to injuries. If Tua remains out Sunday, the Vikings must look to take advantage of his absence, especially with a bye week looming ahead.