MINNEAPOLIS — The tribute began with the coin toss, continued with a touchdown and was followed by signs of support throughout U.S. Bank Stadium.

The love for Randy Moss was on display days after he announced he underwent a surgical procedure to treat his cancer diagnosis.

Wearing Winter Warrior white jerseys with their names and numbers, Vikings Legends Cris Carter and Jake Reed lifted Moss' Purple 84 upward as they walked to midfield in honor of one of America's newest cancer warriors. Moss interacted with a post on X, writing "LUV U ALL! #letsmosscancer."

Justin Jefferson got in on the act in the first quarter, catching a 7-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold on the receiver's first target of the night. Jefferson found a large opening in the back of the end zone away from defenders for an easy pitch and catch.

Jefferson found the camera and yelled "We love you, Randy. That's for you!"

It was Monday Night Football, after all.

"Every game is a plan to get into the end zone, but I definitely wanted to give a tribute to him on one of my touchdowns," Jefferson said after the game. "It was great to have it done in the first quarter. I'm grateful for what he has done for this game and what he did for me as a kid, just watching him and being a fan of him. I've always got to show love for him.

"I texted him and wished him the best of luck," Jefferson added. "I was happy to see he came out and said he had beaten cancer. I'll always have him in my prayers."

Jefferson finished with seven catches for 73 yards and the score, his eighth receiving TD of the season.

He wore a custom shirt styled after a 2000 Moss Vikings jersey complete with the team's 40^th Anniversary patch. Jefferson called it an "amazing" sight to see Carter and Reed hoist the Moss jersey for the coin toss.

"Seeing those guys, the guys before us, they were the big three before me, Speedy (Jalen Nailor) and J.A. (Jordan Addison), so seeing the tribute they had with Randy, somebody who couldn't be here, they were brothers when they were playing and still are," Jefferson said. "It's great to see the amount of love they still have for each other."

Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, who teamed with Moss in New England, said it was important to the Vikings to recognize Moss.

"We talked internally this week about what we could do to show our support, our love for Randy," O'Connell said. "Everybody knows, former teammate of mine, but most importantly you can feel the love for him in this building tonight.

"It's great to have C.C. and Jake Reed here to carry his jersey out there," O'Connell added. "It was a heck of a movement. … [Moss] means the world to this organization. His name is up in the rafters in the Ring of Honor and [he's a] Hall of Famer."

O'Connell said the organization is beyond Moss "every step of the way."

"We care about him. … We just wanted to do whatever we could with the platform on Monday Night Football to make sure — hopefully he was watching, and if it gave him any joy at all, it was well worth it because that's how we feel about him."

Jefferson finished with seven catches for 73 yards and the score, his eighth receiving TD of the season.

Jordan Addison also recorded seven catches and totaled 63 yards. T.J. Hockenson added five catches for 52.

Sam Darnold finished 24-of-40 passing 231 yards with one touchdown and one interception. His passer rating was 74.1, and he was sacked twice and hit eight times.

The Vikings, however, prevailed over the Chicago Bears 30-12 to improve to 12-2 on the season, matching the records of the Lions and Eagles.

Detroit still has tiebreakers on Minnesota and Philadelphia for the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC Playoffs with three games remaining in the season.

Here are four more observations presented by Minnesota Eye Consultants, the Proud LASIK Partner of the Minnesota Vikings, followed by a scoring summary:

1. Milestones for Jones & Smith

Aaron Jones, Sr., rushed for his 50^th career touchdown, scoring from a yard out for a 20-3 lead with 1:38 remaining in the third quarter.

Jones hit the mark in his 99th career regular-season start, and his teams are now 14-1 all-time in games against the Bears.

Jones totaled 86 rushing yards on 18 carries, averaging a clip of 4.8 yards. He caught two passes for 20, including an impressive 17-yarder on which he dove across the line-to-gain to convert a third-and-17 at the end of the first quarter.

Cam Akers added 24 yards on 10 carries and helped salt away the game in the fourth quarter. He scored on a 1-yard run (his first rushing touchdown of the season) to put Minnesota up 27-6 with 10:14 remaining in the game.

Akers handed the ball to center Garrett Bradbury for a spike, but Bradbury then convinced Brian O'Neill, who left the game with a knee injury but returned, to do the honors.

Harrison Smith made his 189^th regular-season start, passing Hall of Fame and Vikings Ring of Honor guard Randall McDaniel for fourth in team history.

Smith led Minnesota with two passes defensed and added three tackles.

2. Defense dominant

The Vikings defense chased Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams plenty of times, but only netted two sacks of the mobile QB.

The first was a massive play in the game by Jonathan Greenard, who legally drilled Williams and knocked the ball loose. Blake Cashman scooped it and returned it 17 yards to end Chicago's second possession of the game and start Minnesota at the Chicago 39-yard line for a second consecutive possession to open the game (the Bears had gone for it on fourth-and-1 on their opening drive, but D'Andre Swift was stuffed for no gain by Greenard and Jerry Tillery.

Minnesota has now recorded a takeaway in each of its first 14 games to start a season for the first time since 1992 (16-game streak). The Vikings are the only team in the NFL with a takeaway in every game this season.

Williams finished 18-of-31 passing for 191 yards with one touchdown and a passer rating of 86.9.

The touchdown occurred on a fourth-and-10 with 5:19 remaining in the game. He hit Keenan Allen for a 16-yard strike.

Dallas Turner recorded Minnesota's second sack of the night — his first since Week 1.

Chicago went 1-for-12 on third downs, 1-for-3 on fourth downs and 1-for-3 in the red zone.

3. Near block by Vikings & a block by Bears

The Vikings nearly blocked a punt early in the game. Trent Sherfield, Sr., put heat on Tory Taylor and nearly clipped the ball, but Sherfield's momentum carried him into the Bears rookie.

The running into the punter penalty resulted in 5 yards on a fourth-and-2 and kept Minnesota's defense on the field for extended time in the second quarter, but Swift was stuffed by Cashman on a fourth-and-1 and the Minnesota 29-yard line with 2:35 remaining in the first half.

In the second half, Minnesota allowed a punt by Ryan Wright to be blocked. Because Chicago's Dominque Robinson made contact with the football before contacting Wright, there was no penalty.

Chicago took over at the Minnesota 27 and capped the possession with its touchdown.

4. Flag unhappy

The Bears were flagged nine times for 93 yards, including a 30-yard pass interference on Tyrique Stevenson just before Jones' touchdown. Chicago also committed roughing the passer on the play (that infraction by Montez Sweat was declined).

Minnesota was assessed with 10 penalties for 56 yards, including multiple pre-snap violations.