The Bears narrowly secured a victory over the Vikings last night on Monday Night Football. Four field goals was all Matt Eberflus’ team needed to escape Minnesota with the first divisional win of his NFL coaching career. It was an ugly game. The Bears offense continually stalled out just before reaching the red-zone. Justin Fields did not play very well, but was held back by offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Luckily, the defense put together a phenomenal performance. It produced several turnovers and stepped up in the big moments.
Defense Came to Play
Turnovers
One of my biggest gripes about this team in 2023 has been the lack of takeaways on defense. However, the unit has forced eight turnovers over the last two weeks. Eberflus’ defense has finally figured out how to take the ball away, which has allowed the Bears defense to reach new heights.
In the first half, two straight Vikings drives were halted by Bears interceptions (Jaylon Johnson and Jaquon Brisker). Minnesota was forced to punt on its next drive, narrowly avoiding an easy potential pick-six by Jaylon Johnson on third down. If felt like every pass that left QB Joshua Dobbs’ hands was going to be intercepted, which is a feeling that the Bears have not created in a long time.
The Unit Stepped Up
In addition to the interceptions, the defense stepped up when it really needed to. After putting in a great effort all game long, the group found itself in its own territory in a sudden change following a devastating Justin Fields fumble. All the Vikings needed was one first down to get into field goal range and extend their lead to four points. This would have eliminated the option of a field goal on the Bears’ next drive and required them to score a touchdown. But, the defense stood strong one last time. It didn’t allow one yard, forcing a punt with 2:30 left on the clock and gifting Justin Fields one more chance to win the game.
Jaylon Johnson was the Player of the Game
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson is putting together a real case for big money this offseason. He needs to stop dropping easy pick-sixes (he’s dropped two in the last two weeks), but he is playing at an extremely high level right now. He added another interception this week in the first quarter, sparking the defense. There were several other impact plays he made in Week 12. The drive after his interception, he absolutely blew up a wide receiver screen, forcing a 3rd and 5. Then a few plays later, he broke up a third down pass attempt to Jordon Addison. The ball fluttered up into the air, and into safety Jaquon Brisker’s hands.
In the second half, he did the same thing again. A Joshua Dobbs 4th and 3 pass attempt was broken up. The ball floated in the air, and eventually into linebacker TJ Edwards for the takeaway. Jaylon Johnson was the man who broke the pass up. Johnson was responsible for three interceptions on Sunday, and should have had another one (for a touchdown) to add to it. He is unbelievable.
Luke Getsy Held Back Justin Fields
Now that the fun stuff is out of the way, it’s time to access Justin Fields’ performance. The Bears only managed 12 points. The defense created four turnovers, giving the offense fantastic field position on two of them. However, Chicago only managed to score three points off of turnovers on Sunday. Building off of the momentum a takeaway creates is essential. It keeps the momentum rolling and sucks the life out of opponents. With the way the defense played, the Bears should have won by multiple touchdowns.
In my opinion, Fields didn’t have a good game. He looked great on the first- scripted- drive. He knew where to go with the ball and you could tell he’d practiced those plays a lot. However, the rest of the game didn’t spur much hope for me. But, I blame Luke Getsy just as much as I blame Fields for this. Fields was running well, accounting for 59 rushing yards in total. However, the amount of read-option calls and designed quarterback runs had to be half of what it was last week. I know it was a major emphasis last week against the man-heavy Lions, but I don’t think that Getsy should’ve toned down the running as much as he did.
There are Other Plays Than “WR Screen”… I think
Ultimately, Getsy decided to replace the read-option calls with wide receiver screens, a lot of wide receiver screens. I charted nine WR screen plays in total, which honestly feels low. On two separate occasions, the Bears ran consecutive wide receiver screen plays. Getsy must’ve believed that that was the most effective play against certain personnel groups. However, I would argue that only three of these plays worked out well. There were only a few times where Fields was able to work with medium-length passing concepts. The Vikings love to drop eight, so he had to throwaway in most of these instances. However, the last-drive 36-yard pass to DJ Moore in the dagger concept is what won the game for the Bears. If only we’d seen more of that style of play-calling, maybe the game wouldn’t have been so close in the end.
Fumble Issue
Lastly, I can’t ignore Justin Fields’ fumbling issue. It seems like whenever he gets the ball in the fourth quarter with a chance to win, he fumbles the ball. He did it last week against the Lions, and this week against the Vikings. Miraculously, the defense was able to give him one more chance after what felt like a game-ending turnover. Still, this has become a pattern and is something that Fields needs to fix (and prove that he’s fixed it) before this season concludes.