Three Takeaways From Vikings Interesting Win Over Bears
The Minnesota Vikings won their second game of the season on Sunday with a 19-13 victory over the Chicago Bears. This was the first divisional matchup for the Vikings.
Minnesota has won the last five meetings between the two teams and sits third in the NFC North, behind the 5-1 Detroit Lions and the 2-3 Green Bay Packers.
While getting a 'W' is always good, several issues continue to plague the team. With that in mind, here are three takeaways from the latest Vikings outing.
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Vikings Win Turnover Battle
Turnovers have played a massive role through the first six weeks of the Vikings 2023 campaign, and it wasn't until Sunday that the club was on the positive side of the turnover battle.
Minnesota's defense forced two interceptions and a fumble, which led to a touchdown
It was a big game for linebacker Jordan Hicks. He was the one who grabbed the ball on the scoop and score while also recording ten tackles and an interception.
On a day when the offense sputtered, it was nice to see the defense step up.
Struggling Without JJ
Justin Jefferson is arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL, so not having him on the field was obviously going to impact the passing game.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins completed 21 of his 31 pass attempts for 181 yards and a touchdown, but for most of the game, the Vikings struggled to generate much of anything on offense.
Minnesota started the game with two back-to-back field goal drives and punted on their third series. After the defense forced the Bears into field goals twice, the Vikings had an opportunity to take the lead with their fourth drive of the afternoon.
That fourth drive ended with a Kirk Cousins fumble that was recovered by Tremaine Edmunds, setting up the Bears at the Minnesota 35. Thankfully Justin Fields threw an interception three plays later, which led to the Vikings' only offensive touchdown of the day.
It was a painful second half, as the Vikings went punt, punt, missed field goal, punt, punt, before the game-clinching drive.
Considering head coach Kevin O'Connell is supposed to be an 'offensive genius,' it's disappointing to see the team struggle as much as they have throughout the season on that side of the ball.
Mattison Is Not Working
When the Vikings parted ways with Dalvin Cook in the offseason, I was actually looking forward to seeing Mattison get an opportunity as RB1. Well, I'm over it now. It's not working, and he's cost the team multiple times this year.
I don't mean to place all of the blame on Mattison, there is lots of blame to go around, but when your number is called, the team should be able to count on you.
Mattison finished the game with 44 yards on 18 carries. The 25-year-old also had another tough day in pass protection, while continuing to drop passes.
With Akers on the roster, why not give him a few more touches? He had one carry Sunday for eight yards.
Looking Ahead
Next up for the Vikings: a Monday Night Football matchup with the 5-1 San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco is coming off their first loss to the season and could be without star running back Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
At the time of writing, Minnesota is a seven-point underdog and the over/under is set at 45.0.
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