The Vikings provided a reminder of what meaningless football looks like on Sunday.
It's rather strange.
Vikings fans barely made a noise during the first quarter, and their team barely seemed to make an effort for most of the first half.
The loudest noise at U.S. Bank Stadium was prompted by a scoreboard showing the Lions leading the Packers.
At one point in the second quarter, the Bears were outgaining the Vikings 210 yards to 22.
Whether because of pride, professionalism or the Bears remembering that they're a terrible football team, the Vikings stumbled to a 31-17 victory, avoiding finishing a second straight season with just seven victories.
The tally in the Vikings' first-ever 17-game regular season: a final record of 8-9 and a second straight absence from the NFL playoffs.
If character in real life is defined by how you behave when no one is looking, character in professional sports is defined by how you perform when there is nothing at stake but pride.
By that measure, the 2021 Vikings at least showed a little fight, even if they waited until the second half.
Then again, they were facing a bad team about to fire its coach and playing its backup quarterback, the lead-footed Andy Dalton.
The Bears could have established a large lead in this game, but went 0-for-3 on fourth downs inside the Vikings' 20.
After the game, two coaches who are expected to be fired — the Bears' Matt Nagy and the Vikings' Mike Zimmer — shook hands at midfield.
Zimmer and Vikings general manager Rick Spielman brought in veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson to bolster a secondary that they had failed to fix. He sealed the Vikings' victory with a 66-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the fourth.
Then he ran to the Vikings' logo and midfield and held his arms wide.
It was a gesture befitting a more meaningful moment.
It was a reminder that Peterson had not previously intercepted a pass for the Vikings, as their secondary contributed to the Vikings fielding a weak defense for a second straight season.
As the game ended, the wait for Vikings announcements began.
If the Vikings are going to fire Zimmer, will they do it quickly?
What will they do with Spielman: fire him, elevate him or keep him in his current position?
What will they do with quarterback Kirk Cousins, who has made the playoffs in just one of his four seasons with the Vikings, and has not advanced past the divisional round?
Sunday, they won going away, as some of them were contemplating whether they would be going away permanently.
