What We Learned About the Minnesota Vikings in Convincing MNF Win Over Bears

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Dec 16, 2024

NFL: Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings — Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

Everything came together about as well as the Minnesota Vikings could have asked for during week 15. Even prior to taking the U.S. Bank Stadium field on Monday Night Football vs the Chicago Bears, the Vikings had already clinched a playoff spot.

But wait, there’s more. The Detroit Lions finally lost their second game of the season, too, opening the door for Minnesota, in multiple ways. So… you’re telling me there’s a chance? That’s right, by the time Monday morning rolled around, the Vikings held their playoff future in their own hands.

Beat the Bears on Monday Night Football, and everything was still on the table. Win the final three games on their schedule, and the Minnesota Vikings will take the NFC North. They’d also claim the No. 1 seed in the 2024-25 playoffs, which comes with a 1st round bye.

Yes, everyone picked the 11-2 Vikings — a -7 point favorite at home — to beat a reeling 4-9 Bears team. But this is Minnesota, where wins rarely come easy. And at times on Monday night, it looked like that would again be the case.

What We Learned: Minnesota Vikings vs Chicago Bears – Week 15

Fortunately, even though the Minnesota Vikings did not bring their A-game to U.S. Bank Stadium, the Bears proved multiple times that they indeed have very little interest in winning, right now. Chicago shot themselves in the foot just about every time a window of opportunity opened, which made it impossible to keep this a game, and the Vikings rolled to a 30-12 victory. So, what did we learn tonight?

Kevin O’Connell does not like running the football

We can probably slide this under the ‘things we already knew’ category, but the Minnesota Vikings head coach proved again on Monday just how much he dislikes running the football. Not only was his team leading vs the Bears from start to finish, but we also saw an unusually inaccurate Sam Darnold tonight, too, thanks to a pinky injury he suffered early on.

TV showed Sam Darnold appearing to hit his hand on a helmet during that 2-minute drive. Whether by coincidence or not, Darnold was trailed closely into the locker room by Tyler Williams, the Vikings' VP of player health and performance.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) December 17, 2024

So, with Aaron Jones averaging nearly 5 yards per carry, you’d think head coach and offensive play-caller Kevin O’Connell would want to ride his running game to a victory, right? Controlling the clock, wearing out Chicago’s defensive line and relying on a really good defense to stop a Bears offense that is not running on all cylinders would have made sense. But that isn’t how KOC rolls.

Instead, the Vikings entered halftime up 13-0 having thrown the football 24 times vs just 10 rushing attempts. But in that first half, Darnold hurt his right pinky, and had to wear some sort of bandage that affected his accuracy on multiple throws.

Do you think that pushed O’Connell to run more, at the start of the 2nd half? Hell no, Darnold threw 11 passes in the 3rd quarter, vs just 7 rushing attempts for Jones (zero for anyone else). Finally, after the Minnesota Vikings went up 27-6 in the 4th quarter, KOC called off the dogs.

Still, Aaron Jones finished with only 18 carries, which he turned into 86 rushing yards on the night. Sam Darnold, meanwhile, ended 24-of-40 for 231 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. He spread the ball around to all of his major weapons, but Justin Jefferson led the way with 7 catches for 73 yards and a TD that ended with a heartfelt shout out to Randy Moss, who announced a battle with cancer on Friday.

"We love you Randy, that's for you" 💜

Justin Jefferson showing love to Randy Moss after the TD 🥹 pic.twitter.com/fiSD5Vl4Df
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 17, 2024

If there is one thing O’Connell proved tonight, it’s that he will call pass plays until you force him to do otherwise. Tonight, it did not hurt him. Will it hurt him during the playoffs? We will find out, but it is worth noting that, when the Vikings do run lately, they have done it pretty effectively, as long as Aaron Jones holds onto the football.

Minnesota Vikings defense figured out Caleb Williams

The biggest difference in Monday night’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears was the way Brian Flores’ defense kept Caleb Williams in the pocket, while confusing him with different coverages and pre-snap looks.

Yes, the former USC star did throw one touchdown, late in the 4th quarter. But overall, the Vikings stuck with a four-man pressure and forced Williams to stay in the pocket, keep his eyes downfield and read coverages, which he struggled to do.

That resulted with the 2024 No. 1 overall pick holding onto the football FOREVER, at times, while waiting for receivers to get open downfield. And he wasn’t very successful with it, finishing 18-of-31 for 191 yards and a garbage time touchdown. The Vikings defense would have had another TD, had Andrew Van Ginkel not missed a block.

WHAT A HIT!@JonGreenard7 and @blockayyy team up for the strip-sack and fumble recovery.#ProBowlVote

📺: @ABC pic.twitter.com/PqY4f8fDQr
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 17, 2024

This, just a few weeks after the same rookie QB threw for 340 yards and 2 touchdowns, in Chicago. That afternoon, Williams killed the Vikings repeatedly by making plays with both his feet and his arm, after being forced out of the pocket by Minnesota’s pass rush.

Monday night, the Vikings’ pass rush was much more disciplined, and it paid dividends. The Bears were held scoreless during the first half, and went just 1-of-9 on 3rd downs (1-for-3 on 4th downs).

Bad teams find ways to lose

You don’t have to be a die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan to know tonight’s home team didn’t play its best game of the 2024 season. But when you play against bad teams, those opponents seem to find ways to lose, and that’s what we saw from the Chicago Bears in week 15.

Every time the Bears gave themselves a chance, there was a penalty or some other self-inflicted wound that nullified the play. That included a 3rd quarter touchdown that was erased because a sixth offensive lineman did not report to the referees as eligible on the play.

The Bears linemen forgot to report as an eligible receiver and the touchdown was taken off the board 😳pic.twitter.com/nch45GDNJU
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 17, 2024

A TD would have made the score 13-6, with an extra point yet to come. Instead, the Bears settled for a field goal. They didn’t find paydirt again until the game was already over, when Caleb Williams threw a garbage time touchdown to Keenan Allen that made the score 27-12.

All season long, we’ve seen the Minnesota Vikings find ways to win games, even during weeks that they did not bring their best effort for all 60 minutes. Tonight, we were reminded of what it looks like when a team does the opposite, making losing plays at all the worst moments.