In one of the ugliest games of the 2023 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings lost to the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. For all the goodwill that Josh Dobbs had accumulated during his first couple of weeks with the team, you have to imagine that has worn off with back-to-back losses, and his struggles in each game.
From the outset, this one was tough to watch. The Vikings defense allowed the Bears offense to march up and down the field in the first quarter, allowing Justin Fields to complete pass after pass. The defense bowed up when it mattered, though, and kept the Bears out of the endzone. Minnesota could not get anything going of their own, with Dobbs throwing two key interceptions in the first half.
Still, the Vikings went into the half only down three points thanks to the efforts of their defense, who has been carrying the team all season.
For the most part, it was the same story in the second half. Dobbs had another pair of costly turnovers, but the Vikings defense simply refused to let the team lose without a fight. Jack-of-all-trades defender Josh Metellus nearly single-handedly kept the Vikings in the game in the second half, having a hand in both turnovers.
Minnesota was finally able to figure something out and put a touchdown on the board in the fourth quarter with a touchdown toss to T.J. Hockenson, but it was all for naught, as the Vikings couldn’t put the Bears away and fell at the end to a game-winning field goal.
There wasn’t a whole lot of good from this one, but let’s take a look at the good, bad and ugly from the Vikings loss to the Bears.
The good: Vikings scoring defense
As it turns out, the tone was set for this game pretty much from the outset. While the Bears moved the ball with relative ease in the first quarter, they weren’t able to turn that success into points. The Vikings defense allowed yards in that first quarter, but they stiffened when it mattered and kept the Bears out of the endzone.
That turned out to be the theme of the night: The Vikings defense struggling at times, but getting strong when it mattered most. Minnesota was able to keep the Bears offense out of the endzone all night. They only allowed four field goals, keeping the Vikings offense within striking distance until the very end.
Dobbs and the offense consistently put the defense behind the proverbial eight ball. The offense gave the Bears four turnovers, and yet the Vikings defense only allowed three points total off those turnovers. A whole lot went wrong for Minnesota on Monday night against the Bears, but the defense had relatively little to do with that.
The bad: Vikings first quarter defense
For all the good the Vikings defense did with regards to keeping the Bears out of the endzone, they certainly could have done more to keep them from moving the ball so easily. Especially at the beginning of the game.
Like I said, the tone for this one was set early. Chicago came out from the outset and was able to find the yardage they needed when they needed it. While Fields and the Bears offense wasn’t pushing the ball down the field vertically, they didn’t need to with the way they were able to get chunk plays anyway.
Fields came out and was ultra efficient in the early portions of the game, starting off the game 12/12 in the first quarter for over 100 yards. They also allowed Fields to break contain on multiple occasions and pick up some key yards with his legs.
What was worse was their inability to get off the field in the first quarter. The Vikings defense was on the field for nearly the entirety of the first quarter, with the offense running only three plays the entirety of the quarter. It’s hard to win a game when you come out and get repeatedly punched in the mouth early.
The good: clutch forced turnovers
If it weren’t for the truly Herculean effort from the Vikings defense on Monday night, Minnesota would have had no chance to win the game. The offense didn’t do anywhere near enough to win, and the fact that the game was only a two-point difference is a testament to how well the defense played — and how poor the Bears offense really is.
The defense gave up its fair share of yardage, allowing a poor Bears offense to amass more than 100 yards on the ground and allowing Fields to throw for 217 yards threw the air. But for all the yards they gave up, they were able to keep Chicago out of the endzone the entire game.
More importantly, they gave their offense not one, but two chances to win the game late with timely turnovers. Minnesota was able to force two fumbles in the fourth quarter. The first turnover resulted in the Vikings driving down the field and scoring the only touchdown of the game.
The second forced fumble *should* have been what sealed the game for Minnesota. All they needed to do was gain enough yardage and burn enough time to be able to kick a field goal and walk away with an ugly win. But alas, the football gods had other ideas.
Clutch turnovers can only do so much for a team if the offense doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain, but the Vikings defense did their part Monday night.
The ugly: Josh Dobbs' play
The story was fun while it lasted, but the honeymoon phase is officially over with “The Passtronaut”. The last two games have really exposed just how mediocre the play the Vikings have actually gotten from Dobbs really is. He’s made some nice plays and the story of him coming in and leading Minnesota to victory right away was great. But it’s not worth the level of play he’s been giving them.
Against the Bears, Dobbs failed to reach 200 yards passing, continuing his downward passing decline with the team. In Dobbs first full game with the team, he threw for 268 yards and a touchdown against the Saints, leading the team to victory.
Last week, in a loss to the Broncos, Dobbs only threw for 211 yards. This week, Dobbs was only able to throw for 163 yards. But what’s more indicative of the poor play Dobbs has had lately is the turnovers. In a close game where the opponent couldn’t put up touchdowns, Dobbs turnovers were killer.
On the plus side, Dobbs avoided the fumble woes that have plagued him all season. Unfortunately, in place of the fumbles Dobbs was throwing interceptions all over the place. Dobbs threw four interceptions in total and there was at least one more throw that should have been intercepted — and had it been, it would have wound up in a Bears touchdown.
To be fair to Dobbs, the interception he threw targeting Jordan Addison wasn’t his fault. Addison needs to come away with that reception. Still, his fault or not, it still goes on Dobbs’ stat line.
