Minnesota Vikings At Chicago Bears: Third Quarter Open Thread

The action continued to be fast and furious in the second quarter at Soldier Field, and the result is the score at halftime being 24-21 in favor of the home team.

The Vikings punted to end their drive that spanned the quarter break, and on the Bears' subsequent possession they were moving down the field again. But on a 3rd-and-9 from the Minnesota 31-yard line, Jared Allen got to Jay Cutler and knocked the ball out of the quarterback's hand. The ball was picked up by Brian Robison, and the race was on, as Robison took the ball back 61 yards for his first NFL touchdown. That score tied the game again at 14-14.

As he did following the Vikings' first touchdown, Devin Hester broke off another big return to put the Bears near the Minnesota red zone. After Matt Forte gave the Vikings 1st-and-goal inside the 1-yard line, the Bears went play-action, and Jay Cutler attempted to hit Martellus Bennett, but the ball was deflected twice and wound up in the hands of the returning Kevin Williams for a huge turnover.

Then, the Vikings gave it right back, as Christian Ponder stared down Jerome Simpson on a route down the sidelines, and the ball was intercepted by Tim Jennings, who led the NFL in interceptions in 2012. Jennings took the ball back 44 yards for a score, and Chicago found themselves back on top, 21-14. It really was an awful throw by Ponder, who telegraphed it the whole way.

The Vikings came back on the next drive, though, as they moved the ball nicely downfield, including a couple of nice runs by Adrian Peterson. The drive concluded with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Ponder to Kyle Rudolph that I didn't get to see because the broadcast from FOX blows chunks so far.

Then, apparently, the Bears moved down the field. . .again, we can't see the damn thing. . .and got down inside the 2-yard line. (They appeared to be ready to basically concede and go into the half tied, but a personal foul on Jamarca Sanford gave them new life.) But the Bears threw three incomplete passes, and had to settle for a short Robbie Gould field goal to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room.

That's where we stand at halftime. . .the Vikings have scored a touchdown on offense, defense, and special teams thus far, and it's been pretty crazy at Soldier Field thus far. Chicago will get the ball to start the second half of play.

Once again, here's Eric's Twitter feed, as he is live at Soldier Field for this one.

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