MINNEAPOLIS — Playing for their playoff lives — or at least the right to stay in the hunt for another week — the Bears are beating the Vikings 20-10 at halftime Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Bears’ offense continued its hot streak after playing well against two bad defenses, the Lions and Texans. Take away the one play the Bears ran to run out the clock, and the Bears punted only once.
Quarterback Mitch Trubisky has been steady, completing 10-of-14 passes for 109 yards and a whopping 117.9 passer rating. He’s the team’s second-leading rusher too, gaining 18 yards on four carries.
If the Bears can piece together another half like the first, they’ll improve to 7-7 and all-but-eliminate the Vikings from postseason contention. Both teams trailed the Cardinals by one game in their fight for the seventh NFC playoff spot entering Sunday.
An ill-advised Vikings squib kick to open the game allowed the Bears to pin the Vikings even after a three-and-out. The Bears forced one of their own and got the ball at their own 42. Four plays later, Trubisky faced third-and-three at the Vikings’ 32. He threw deep to Allen Robinson down the right sideline, who taped his feet in-bounds for a 24-yard gain. Trubisky threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney on the next play.
The Vikings parried with a touchdown of their own, an all-too-easy eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ended when a wide-open Adam Thielen caught a two-yard touchdown catch because of busted Bears coverage.
The Bears punched back, gaining 44 yards over the next four plays before settling for a 42-yard field goal after Trubisky, who was 8-for-8 up to that point, threw incomplete to Javon Wims.
The Bears ended the Vikings’ next drive with a most unusual play — a Robert Quinn sack. The veteran edge rusher, who the Bears gave $70 million over five years this offseason, recorded his first sack since his first snap with the franchise, forcing a Kirk Cousins fumble that the Vikings recovered on third down. They were forced to punt.
The Bears then crafted a 7:19 drive that ground to a halt at the end — they ran four plays after having first-and-goal at the 1 — but ended with a David Montgomery touchdown. They added a 35-yard field goal after stuffing all-world running back Dalvin Cook on fourth-and-1 from the Vikings’ own 34. Coach Mike Zimmer had sent out the punt team but changed his mind when the Bears took a timeout to fix a personnel issue.
The Vikings kicked a field goal with 30 seconds to go in the half after Cousins threw incomplete on third-and-6.
