The Minnesota Vikings failed to take advantage of the Detroit Lions losing on Thanksgiving Day by losing to the Chicago Bears 12-10 on Monday night football.
It was a frustrating loss on many accords. The Vikings turned the ball over four times against the Bears and they were all interceptions thrown by Josh Dobbs. His issues with ball placement came back to haunt the Vikings on multiple occasions.
As we look back at this game, it’s going to hurt for some time. The defense didn’t allow a touchdown and has allowed just one in their last eight quarters of football. The Vikings have put up three touchdowns in that span but have lost both games.
The studs and duds this week are evident as there were more poor performances than great ones.
Stud: OLB Danielle Hunter
Even when the defense collectively played well, there weren’t a lot of standout performances. The one that did play really well was Hunter. He got 1.5 sacks against the Bears on Monday night, triggering another $1 million bonus by surpassing 12.5 sacks. He has a chance to make another $1 million bonus by getting to 14.0 sacks which would be just 0.5 short of his career high. His presence this season has been impeccable, as the defense has been powered by his work on the defensive line.
Dud: QB Josh Dobbs
The magic surrounding Dobbs seems to have run out right as the league has gotten film on him with the Vikings. On Monday night, it wasn’t just the four interceptions he threw, the first time it happened since September of 2014. It was the poor ball placement that prevented the offense from being more successful. The deep ball to Jordan Addison that was botched and the fourth and eight to T.J. Hockenson that was thrown where he had to jump and come forward and that caused a turnover on downs. The poor ball placement has been an issue throughout the season but it manifested itself even worse on Monday night.
Dud: RT Brian O'Neill
Overall, the offensive line didn’t have it’s best game of the season and O’Neill was arguably the worst of the bunch. Early on, O’Neill let Montez Sweat get behind him multiple times and wreak havoc in the backfield. Dobbs was unable to maneuver out of the pressure from Sweat and it hindered the unit early on in a major way. O’Neill needs to play better than that.
Stud: S Josh Metellus
Metellus has been one of the catalysts behind the success of the defense. Throughout the season, Metellus has been everywhere. From pressuring the quarterback to dropping deep and everything in between. Not only did Metellus get an important sack, he stripped Justin Fields of the ball allowing the Vikings to try and win the game. They couldn’t get it done but it was a pivotal play.
Dud: TE T.J. Hockenson
Yes, Hockenson caught the game’s only touchdown pass but it was the little things that haunted him against the Bears. On a crucial fourth and eight early in the game, Hockenson didn’t run his out route past the sticks and it ended up costing the Vikings a possession. From the poor contested catches to this, it’s been a tough year for Hockenson. Yes, there are plenty of highlights from the top tight end, but the little things need to be consistent.
Dud: RB Ty Chandler
All the talk throughout the week about the running back controversy with both Chandler and Alexander Mattison was settled on Monday night. Mattison is the better back and it’s not as much of a competition as you might think. Chandler couldn’t get anything going in the running game and Mattison was displaying both great vision and elusiveness in the hole, including 21 yard run. Chandler wasn’t able to do much of anything against the Bears defense, rushing for eight yards on four carries. Hope is not lost for Chandler, but this wasn’t great.
