Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears: Second Quarter Open Thread

The Chicago Bears won the coin toss to start the game with the Minnesota Vikings, and chose to defer to the second half. The Bears avoided Cordarrelle Patterson on the opening kickoff, with Rhett Ellison taking the short kick to the Minnesota 29-yard line.

The Vikings got their first first down thanks to a defensive offsides penalty on Jay Ratliff, and Jerick McKinnon broke off a 23-yard run to push the Vikings into Chicago territory. The Minnesota drive stalled at the Chicago 32-yard line, and Blair Walsh drilled a 50-yard field goal to give the Vikings the first lead of the day at 3-0.

The Bears started their first drive of the afternoon from their own 24-yard line. They got a quick first down on a pass from Jay Cutler to Alshon Jeffery, and a few more Cutler completions pushed the Bears close to midfield. A run by Matt Forte got Chicago into Vikings territory, but a pair of penalties (one for illegal formation, one for a false start) pushed the Bears back, but Chicago got a big break on a catch by Matt Forte, as a missed tackle by Anthony Barr netted the Bears 30 yards on a 3rd-and-12 play. Following an incompletion on the next Chicago play, Jay Cutler managed to get himself flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for jawing with an official. The Bears had to bring on Robbie Gould for a field goal attempt, but Gould pushed it wide right from 47 yards out to keep the score at 3-0 in favor of the Vikings.

One of the weirdest drives you'll see all year, but it worked out alright for Minnesota.

The Vikings started the next drive at their own 37-yard line after the miss, but they could only manage a three-and-out after Chase Ford was stopped short on a third down completion. . .or so we thought. On the punt, the snap went to Adam Thielen, who handed it to Andrew Sendejo around left end for a 47-yard gain down to the Chicago 7-yard line. (No, you're not reading that wrong. . .that actually happened.) On the next play, Teddy Bridgewater found Rhett Ellison for a 7-yard touchdown pass, and the Walsh extra point made the score 10-0.

A fake punt. If that don't beat all.

The Bears started their next drive from their own 19-yard line. It looked like the Vikings might force a three-and-out, but Cutler found Alshon Jeffery on third down to keep their drive alive. As we move to the second quarter, the Bears are looking at 1st-and-10 from the Minnesota 49-yard line.

After fifteen minutes at Soldier Field, the Minnesota Vikings lead the Chicago Bears by a score of 10-0. Come hang out with us for the second quarter of play!