“We hear a lot of stuff - backups, practice squad players out there,” Bush said. He had a rocky training camp working his way back after opting out of the 2020 college season at Oregon. Graham, a sixth-round pick, was an easy cut for the Bears when it came time to trim the roster. Vildor, thrust into a starting role to begin the season, finally was benched late last month after a particularly rough patch. He didn’t play in an NFL game the last two seasons. Teez Tabor, who played alongside Bush at safety, was a draft bust for the Lions, making five starts for them in 20. The rest of the secondary was unproven, and this game could have had the look of a preseason affair for the Bears. “We really wanted to come in and show that we could play.”īush, a backup, made his 11th start. “There was no panic in the room at all,” Bush said after the game, almost more confidently than you can imagine. Chicago bears minnesota vikings score free#Earlier in the Week 15 prep, cornerback Artie Burns and free safety Eddie Jackson entered the protocols, as did Duke Shelley, who would have been the nickel cornerback if his hamstring was OK. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)įinal word on availability came Sunday when the team learned that cornerback Jaylon Johnson and strong safety Tashaun Gipson were the 13th and 14th players to be sidelined by COVID-19 during the week. The Bears got after them with the pass rush: Robert Quinn and Akiem Hicks each had two sacks and linebackers Roquan Smith and Alec Ogletree played well enough that the Vikings couldn’t do too much damage against a predominant split-safety look on the back end to protect recently benched second-year cornerback Kindle Vildor and rookie Thomas Graham Jr., who had spent the entire season on the practice squad.īears coach Matt Nagy throws a challenge flag in anger in front of a referee in the third quarter against the Vikings at Soldier Field on Dec. Chicago bears minnesota vikings score series#The Vikings totaled only 193 yards of offense and were 5-for-17 on third down, meaning they didn’t have many series on which they went from first or second down to first down again. Jefferson was targeted 10 times and caught four passes for 47 yards, one of them a 12-yard touchdown for the first score of the game when the Vikings schemed him open against Bush. The Bears forced the Vikings to punt seven times, including on their final five possessions. Cook carried 28 times for 89 yards (3.2 average) with a long gain of 10. Cousins completed 12 of 24 passes for only 87 yards and was picked off once by Deon Bush when Jefferson got tangled up with nickel cornerback Marqui Christian and fell down. The Bears did a marvelous job against the Vikings’ three-headed monster of quarterback Kirk Cousins, running back Dalvin Cook and wide receiver Justin Jefferson. Desai said Friday that he was optimistic he would be cleared in time for the game, and players learned Sunday he’d be in the booth at the controls of a defense that has had an up-and-down season. Desai was sidelined early in the week, placed in the league’s COVID-19 protocols along with offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor. It is certain to be a week defensive coordinator Sean Desai will not forget anytime soon. Credit to the Bears for showing up and putting together a gritty, gutsy and tough effort on defense with the entire starting secondary sidelined against a pretty good Vikings offense. I’m not sure there was a crazier week at Halas Hall, with the possible exception of the upside - down events last month before the Thanksgiving Day game at Detroit. This was the 31st game, playoffs included, the Bears have played during the COVID-19 pandemic. 10 thoughts after the Chicago Bears needed all 60 minutes to finally reach the end zone with a score that was too little, too late in a 17-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night at Soldier Field.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |