Chicago Bears 16, Minnesota Vikings 6: What the heck was that?

On Sunday, the NFC North had a big game at Soldier Field, as the Minnesota Vikings made their annual trip to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears.

Someone should have told the Vikings that the game was important.

The Vikings did nothing on offense all day, and did next to nothing defensively against a backup quarterback, falling to the Bears in Week 4 action, 16-6.

There was just one touchdown in this game, and it came on the game’s first drive. After a play where the Vikings appeared to recover a Mitchell Trubisky fumble (that was overturned by a penalty on Anthony Harris), the Bears pushed down the field and scored on a 10-yard pass from backup quarterback Chase Daniel to Tarik Cohen.

Daniel was in the game because, on that play, Trubisky suffered a shoulder injury and was declared out for the game after the first series.

There wasn’t a whole lot of offense in the game, but to be honest, the Bears really didn’t need any. The Minnesota offense did nothing all game long, and the Bears kept adding on points courtesy of Eddy Pineiro, who connected on field goals of 25, 38, and 30 yards to extend the lead to 16-0 through the first three quarters.

The Vikings did sort of come alive late, as they finally got into the end zone with three minutes left on a 2-yard run by Dalvin Cook to avoid the Vikings’ first shutout since 2007.

The offense for the Vikings was just sad from start to finish in this one. They got just two first-half possession, and one ended on a fumble by Stefon Diggs that was originally called an incomplete pass but overturned on review. They struggled to do anything offensively until the fourth quarter of play

Kirk Cousins. . .well, did what Kirk Cousins seems to do a lot in these sorts of games. He lost two fumbles, one of which led to a Bears’ field goal, and absorbed 6 sacks. His numbers don’t look awful. . .he completed 27-of-36 passes for 233 yards. . .but the offense was just awful for the majority of the day and couldn’t get anything going until it really didn’t matter anymore.

Stefon Diggs, despite the lost fumble, was probably a solid fantasy play for a lot of folks today, as he wound up going over the century mark on the day. He caught seven passes for 108 yards on the afternoon. Adam Thielen had just two catches for six yards on the afternoon, which is his worst performance in a very long time. On the bright side, rookie Olabisi Johnson. . .you can call him Bisi. . .got into the stat sheet, catching four passes for 35 yards on the afternoon.

Dalvin Cook, who came into this one as the NFL’s leading rusher, couldn’t get on track in this one. He carried the ball 14 times and did score a touchdown, but got just 35 yards on those carries, a far cry from what he had done over the first three games.

The Bears move their record to 3-1 on the year and are now tied with the Green Bay Packers at the top of the NFC North. They will head to London next week to take on the Oakland Raiders. With the loss, the Vikings fall to 2-2. . .and last place in the NFC North. . .and will travel to take on the New York Giants next week.

A pretty dull, lifeless afternoon for the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field in Week 4, folks, as they fall to the Chicago Bears by a score of 16-6. Thank you to everyone that got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!