The Vikings committed too many miscues on Monday Night Football and fell 12-9 to the Bears, heading into their Week 13 bye with a 6-6 record.
Chicago (4-8) snapped a 12-game NFC North losing streak as Cairo Santos' 30-yard field goal split the uprights with 10 seconds remaining in regulation.
Justin Fields was able to move the Bears to the Minnesota 13-yard line with a combination of scrambles and a 36-yard dagger to DJ Moore, which converted third-and-10 from the Minnesota 49-yard line with 55 seconds remaining. Moore was wide open in the middle of the field.
The completion forced Minnesota to exhaust its timeouts and allowed Santos to calmly make his fourth of five field goals, providing the only points scored by Chicago.
Minnesota's last gasp featured multiple laterals and a penalty for an illegal forward pass.
The Vikings had taken a 10-9 lead with 5:54 remaining on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Joshua Dobbs to T.J. Hockenson, capping an eight-play, 77-yard drive.
Minnesota's defense then got the ball right back to the offense when Josh Metellus forced a fumble by Fields during a 7-yard scramble on third-and-10.
Anthony Barr landed on the football to give Minnesota the football at the Chicago 43 with 3:27 remaining.
Back-to-back runs by Alexander Mattison netted 1 yard before Dobbs attempted a short screen pass to Brandon Powell that lost a yard.
Minnesota took a delay of game penalty trying to draw Chicago offsides, before having Ryan Wright try a directional punt that sailed way out of bounds at the 22-yard line.
Here are four more observations from the game.
- Short fields negate Vikings home-field advantage
In addition to not pinning the Bears deep on their final drive, Minnesota also gave Chicago short fields twice after failing to convert a fourth-and-7 from the Minnesota 45 on the opening drive of the second half.
Hockenson was tackled just shy of the line to gain. Chicago took over at its 45-yard line and managed to gain 34 yards on 10 plays before a 39-yard field goal put the Bears up 6-3 with 7:03 left in the third quarter.
The Vikings went for it again on fourth-and-3 from the Chicago 44 on their next possession but Dobbs was intercepted by T.J. Edwards with 2:39 left in the third quarter.
The Bears built on their lead after trudging another 32 yards over eight plays, enabling Santos to drill a 55-yarder with 14:15 left in the game.
- 2-minute drill provides spark
The Vikings had been absolutely bottlenecked until their final drive of the first half.
Dobbs was 5-for-9 with 13 passing yards and two interceptions before Minnesota got the ball back with 1:51 remaining in the second quarter.
He took a deep shot to Brandon Powell to beat 1-on-1 coverage for 28 yards, the second-longest reception of Powell's career.
Dobbs followed with a 12-yard completion to K.J. Osborn, moving the ball to the Chicago 39-yard line from the Minnesota 21 in two plays.
A 26-yard pass interference penalty was assessed to Kyler Gordon after the DB held the right arm of T.J. Hockenson on a deep pass, but the Bears forced an intentional grounding on the next snap.
On third-and-24, the Vikings opted for a screen from Dobbs to Alexander Mattison that gained 11.
The three passes that gained 11, 12 and 28 yards during the drive were the only gains longer than an 8-yard run by Mattison in the first half.
- Bears open methodically
Chicago started the game methodically, plodding its way down the field for 13 plays (the longest gain was a 13-yard completion to running back Khalil Herbert.
Rookie Ivan Pace, Jr., was able to halt Chicago's momentum with a sack of Fields on second-and-8 that was followed by a tackle for loss by Danielle Hunter after a short pass to tight end Cole Kmet.
Santos' 48-yard field goal missed wide right, but the Bears possessed the football for more than nine minutes before Minnesota took the field with 5:52 left in the first quarter.
Fields opened the game by completing his first 12 passes to total 100 yards before he tossed one out of bounds while under pressure. He closed the first half at 5-for-9 after with 35 yards after that.
Fields' throw before his first incompletion was a 24-yard gain on fourth-and-10 to move the Bears into range for a field goal.
- Turnovers again
Dobbs finished 22-of-32 passing for 185 yards with the one touchdown and four interceptions.
He also missed Jordan Addison down the sideline on what would have been a touchdown with 7:40 remaining in the game. Addison drifted with the football as it floated out of bounds.
Gordon had fallen down on the play, leaving Addison wide open.
The Vikings finished with four turnovers, compared to two takeaways and lost the time of possession 35:50 to 24:10.
