The Chicago Bears visited the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, and it didn’t end well for the guys in purple. The team lost to the Bears for the first time in their last four matchups. The Vikings had plenty of chances to win but couldn’t pull off a comeback. The offense was stifled all day with dropped passes and inaccurate throws, while special teams continued their poor play. Vikings fans can take some solace in the defense, which held the Bears to 320 yards of offense. That likely would’ve been enough if Chicago hadn’t needed only nine yards on their final drive to set up the winning field goal. Let’s look at a few individuals who bear most of the responsibility for this loss.
(This isn’t that serious — it’s called nincompoop. Only a nincompoop would be offended.)
J.J. McCarthy
J.J. 2 Picks has struggled to effective run this offense. There isn’t a game he has played that has been smooth, yet. He’s 2-3 as a starter with two close one score, close divisional wins. McCarthy gets a lot of credit for being clutch, because of his play in the 4th quarter in those wins. How much credit does he deserve if the defense needs to play perfect just to keep it close waiting on the offense to start? The inaccuracy of his passing is extremely concerning at this point. He’s missing the easy throws and the ones that are completed are bulleted in there and hard to catch. He didn’t have much help out there with the dropped balls, but you can see the frustration on the receivers faces as another pass hits 5 yards in front of their feet. It’s a matter of time before they lose confidence in him, if they haven’t already.
Jordan Addison
Addison’s off the field issues have been numerous, but typically speaking, the on the field performance has been great. That hasn’t been the case the last few weeks. The touchdown was a nice catch, but one he’s expected to make every time. The multiple drops killed any chance McCarthy had of finding a rhythm. McCarthy clearly has better chemistry with Nailor at this point. That’s going to be tough for Addison when he’s looking for an extension this offseason.
Matt Daniels
What else can we say about Daniels? The special teams unit stinks. Will Reichard is a stud and Ryan Wright is just fine, but the rest of it is trash. The team can’t cover kick returns and they damn sure can’t (legally) block for them either. The 56 yard return on the most important kickoff of the game likely cost the team a win and just about ends their realistic playoff chances. The Bears needed only 9 yards to kick their winning field goal, and likely would’ve made it even if they didn’t get any. It would be the worst phase of the game if it weren’t for the inept offense on Sunday.
Kevin O’Connell
This is a criticism of KOC the Head Coach, not KOC the play caller. Receivers were open all day, but the players didn;t execute. There was nothing wrong with the play calling this week. He schemed perfectly for this game. If McCarthy and the receivers execute, the Vikings win by 3 scores. KOC’s team isn’t functioning well. Something has been off from the start. It might be injuries, it might be something else, but KOC seems to have lost his touch with the team. I know losing isn’t fun, but this isn’t the happy team we were used to seeing the last few years. Long gone are the days of Kirko Chains and carrying Darnold on the teams’ shoulders after a victory. If he wasn’t coming off a deserving Coach of the Year season, his seat would be getting quite warm as the coldness of the Minnesota winter approaches.
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