Chicago Bears Nearly Collapse Again But Get The Upset Win

The Chicago Bears had another dominant game but almost had another fourth-quarter collapse. They got things together, however, and squeaked by with a 12-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

The Chicago Bears have had another frustrating season. In four of their now 12 games, they had an opportunity to take a lead late in the game. They lost them all. In two of them, they dominated and had big leads, only to collapse in the fourth quarter.

Against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night, they nearly did it again. The defense had a dominant showing, limiting the Vikings to just 226 total yards and intercepting quarterback Joshua Dobbs four times. The offense, meanwhile, was content with not taking advantage of Minnesota’s aggressive nature and trying some passes downfield.

Instead, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy called an inordinate amount of screens (again) and short passes. Quarterback Justin Fields dropped back 40 times. That is a lot, right? Well, when you break it down, you see that he was sacked three times. Of the rest of them, Getsy called 22 passes of five yards or less. Of those, 16 were at or behind the line of scrimmage. He refused to give Fields a chance to make plays downfield.

Fields only had one throw deep downfield. If happened to be the one that set up the game-winning field goal. All those short passes did nothing to help the Bears offense score points. In fact, they became the first team this season to win a game without scoring a touchdown.

Even if you call a majority of short passes, Getsy could have mixed things up and thrown slants. At least those passes were past the line of scrimmage. Getsy was, however, happy with calling screens and flare passes behind the line of scrimmage. He put the pressure on the receivers to turn negative yards into positive ones.

The conservative game plan hindered the offense

Wide receiver D.J. Moore did just that. He caught 11 of his 13 targets and had 114 yards. It was the fourth time he and Fields hooked up to have 100+ yards. The biggest of the plays came late in the game when they connected for 36 yards to the Minnesota 13. That set up a Cairo Santos 30-yard chip shot field goal to win it.

Speaking of Santos, he accounted for all of the Bears’ scoring. He hit four of his five attempts, including a 55-yarder. Chicago needed all of those field goals.

This ultra-conservative game plan does nothing to help the team determine if Fields is fit to lead this team once the roster is settled. It does, however, cement the fact that Getsy is inept and over his head as a coordinator. Maybe he could improve later, but he is an abject failure in his tenure in Chicago. There is nothing positive for him to hang his hat on in his game plans.

For his part, Fields went 27/37 for 217 yards. He completed 73 percent of his passes. Additionally, he added 59 yards on the ground. He made good decisions based on the game plan all night long.

With D’Onta Foreman inactive, it fell upon Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson to lead the rushing attack. They were unable to make a dent so Fields took over. They combined to have the same number of yards that Fields got by himself.

The defense shined again

While the offense plodded throughout the game, the Chicago Bears’ defense brought back memories of the 2018 defense. They put pressure on Dobbs all game long. That pressure caused Dobbs to throw four interceptions.

The Bears’ defense now has a total of seven interceptions in their last two games. There is a correlation between an improved pass rush and an increase in turnovers. As mentioned before, the pass rush was all over Dobbs the entire game. They only got to him for two sacks but the pressure was constant. Dobbs did a good job of eluding and getting rid of the ball. However, sometimes it was to the wrong team.

It is great seeing the defense shine once again. While some will point out that they still rank near the bottom in points per game with 24.6, that was mainly because of the first four games.

In those games, the Bears allowed 34.2 points per game. However, in the last eight, that average is down to 19.9 points per game. In three of the first four games, they gave up 30+ points, including one over 40 points. They gave up just two games with 30+ points in the last eight. In five of those games, they gave up 20 points or less.

Fourth-quarter woes returned

The lousy game plan almost came back to haunt the Bears. Chicago allowed the Vikings to hang around. Then, in the fourth quarter, it looked like they would throw away another win.

The Bears were moving down the field and got themselves into Getsy’s favorite position — field goal position. Fields ran the ball up the middle but a Vikings defender poked the ball away. Fields lost another fumble.

Minnesota then marched down the field and, with 5:54 left in the game, the Vikings converted the turnover into seven points with a 17-yard touchdown from Dobbs to T.J. Hockenson. The Vikings scored more after one turnover (seven) than the Bears did with four (three).

Suddenly, the Bears faced a deficit. There was still time to come back, though. Except, on the ensuing drive, Fields incredibly lost a fumble again. It appeared that the Bears again snatched a loss from the jaws of victory.

The defense came in to save the day, though. The unit forced a quick three and out and the Vikings had to punt. Fields and the Bears had another opportunity to come through.

This time, Fields made the big plays. He leaned on Moore. On the drive, he ran for 13 yards and threw it to Moore for 52 yards. They got the Bears into range and Santos finished it off.

Despite winning and eclipsing last season’s win total, this was not a game to celebrate. The coaches are letting the players down. These players are playing their tails off only to have the coaches put them in difficult situations.

Getsy is practically taking the ball away from Fields’ hand. Fields’ best asset is his throwing downfield but Getsy refuses to let him rip it. He continues to use this high school football game plan and it it hurting the offense. It is clear that Getsy prefers Tyson Bagent since Bagent cannot throw deeper than ten yards.