Chicago Bears 19, Minnesota Vikings 17 | Between The Lines

Chicago Bears 19, Minnesota Vikings 17 | Between The Lines

[Music] The Vikings fall to the Bears in a walk-off fashion. This is Between the Lines. I’m Tatum Everett. This is Ben Liieber. And the Vikings had the lead heading into the final seconds of the game. Unfortunately, did not go their way. Dropping the game 17 or 19 to 17 rather. I’m will say I’m using a phone today. I’m not trying to look at my text messages. Ben, yeah, you’re like cool. Cool. And hypno. All the young kids are using their phones for notes just like how we shoot between the lines. Anyway, um let’s talk about this game though because um the defense had a fantastic performance. Um what did you admire the most about what they were able to accomplish today? You know, I thought they were relentless up front. You know, they we knew that the Bears are going to come in and try to run the football. That’s what they do. They’re third in the league in in attempts per game. I mean, so even if it’s not working, they’re still going to keep running the football. Um they get creative with with running the ball as well. They’ll give the ball to some receivers here and there. Um I thought our guys up front got off the football really well. Jaylen Redmond once again is just such a stud. He’s so quick off the ball. Um he disrupted a bunch of plays. So for the most part now we got a little leaky I think at the end of the game with some of the runs, but by and large they didn’t beat us on the ground and you want to make sure that you did that. And then in the secondary so many times you saw Caleb pat the ball, pat the ball, pat the ball. He couldn’t find anything open on the back end. So, I thought our coverage was on point. They did a great job. And then when it mattered, our defensive line did a good job of at least affecting some of his throws. Hiding the ball means get open. Yeah. Yeah. He’s waiting. He’s just waiting for a guy to get open. He’s waiting for, you know, a guy to release, but then nothing’s there. So, then he has to scramble and get outside the pocket and try to extend those plays, which then gets into those scary sort of secondary routes where you have to plaster coverage. Um, but even then, we did a really good job, too. Yeah. similar stats from both quarterbacks today except for the the one that matters probably the most which is the turnover margin and we knew the Bears defense was going to be all about the takeaways. They lead the NFL in takeaways and and they were able to accomplish that as a defense though is how can you turn on over a new leaf and start to get the ball back and affect that margin a little bit more? Well, it’s difficult. I actually asked Harrison Smith about that in the locker room and he’s like, “Look, we recognize that we need to do that.” But the problem is you can’t go into the game in in individual plays and like get out of body and like, “Okay, I I’m going to jump a route or do something that’s, you know, against what my responsibility is.” All week long, all they talked about was do your job. Okay. Well, if the turnovers don’t happen when you’re doing your job, well, you can’t go out of body and out of pocket and like all of a sudden now, you know, start start doing your own thing and and cowboying out there just because you want to create a turnover that goes against all the discipline that you guys talked about during the week. So, you know, sometimes it is about luck. Um, it is tipped passes at the line of scrimmage that float in the air. We actually had one right over here that Matelus was diving for and ended about a yard short. But it is just about give allout effort and and sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. You mentioned the hitman. This was his 200th career game with the Vikings. I mean that’s some rare air right there. What do you respect the most about what he’s able to do, you know, 14 seasons in? I mean just I think just his tenacity with his preparation. Um the way he’s so versatile, you know, if you ask him to be an on the line, you know, line of scrimmage player, he can do that. He can play inside the box. he can do all the disguise elements. He can be the deep center fielder and play more more like a free safety. So, um, and then you’ve seen his game sort of morph, you know, as he’s maybe lost a step in the last year or two, you see that, you know, he puts himself just bodywise in the right positions. You know, you just become a smarter football player. So, let’s switch it up a bit. Let’s talk about the offensive side of things. I mean, it was a really tough go until the end until the fourth quarter where they trailed 16-3 heading into the fourth and then JJ McCarthy able to get some yardage uh some confidence. Jordan Mason there with the rushing touchdown and then that throw to Jordan. What did you see that was different about the fourth quarter for this offense? Well, let’s even go back to the uh the two rushes that that Jordan Mason had, the second one in for the touchdown. You go back, it was like that was a three-phase win. Defensively on that drive before, we had two sacks. We forced a a punt. It’s all about field position. We get the long punt return that set us up basically inside the red zone and then it’s two rushes in for the score. So it’s like that’s complimentary football. Um everything else, you know, it’s it’s tricky because schematically, I heard you even talk about it at halftime. Schematically, everything was working right. You know, it’s like the throws are there, the guys are open. It’s just a matter of of JJ McCarthy settling down, not not seeing those windows open and get antsy, but just, you know, just just lay it in there, you know, and I don’t know what it is about that final drive where we took the lead. It’s almost like he was more calm then Yeah. than he is sometimes stepping up in the pocket in in the second quarter just to deliver a ball on third down. like he’s kind of amped up in those situations where the ball floats on him a little bit, but then in crunch time when it’s a drive where we want to take the lead and win the game, he’s super calm. So, I don’t I don’t know how we can pull that version out of him, you know, for the three quarters previous. Sure. Now, they head to the Packers who got a win today. What does this team need to do to rally and break this uh twoame losing streak? You know, again, I think when they turn on the film offensively, they’re going to say game plan was solid. Thank you for running the football. You know, I talked to Will Fry in the locker room about that and he’s like, you know, it does change our mindset when we’re going forward and we know that we’re going to commit to the run. So many times we saw, you know, uh in in games before they get up the line, they they check we check out of a run and into a pass play. Today it seemed like we had a lot of a lot more checks that they’re killing the play and going into a run play. Yeah, I notic that. I I think that, you know, from a foundational standpoint, a philosophical standpoint, going into more of a run first mode, I think is the way to go. I think you saw you saw the uh the production on the ground. I think it gets our offensive line to play a little bit better going downhill and I think it translates into the play action game. I our pass protection was awesome because of the way that we were able to establish the physicality in the run game. So, I think as you look forward to the the Packer game, understand that our scheme works. Just execute it a little bit more crisp on the on from the passing side and we’re good to go. All right. Thank you, Ben. Appreciate your insight. We will see you guys in Green Bay next weekend when the Vikings travel to the NFC North divisional opponent, the Packers.

Vikings Entertainment Network’s Tatum Everett was joined by Ben Leber to break down the Minnesota Vikings loss to the Chicago Bears during Week 11 of the 2025 NFL season.

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