Vikings and Joshua Dobbs suffer a hideously nasty loss, while the Bears pull out a late win.
The Chicago Bears performed poorly on Monday night. The Minnesota Vikings performed much worse.
Even in a season where quarterback injuries and poor play by many healthy quarterbacks have resulted in some terrible NFL games, particularly in prime time, the Chicago Bears’ 12-10 victory against the Minnesota Vikings was exceptionally brutal to watch. Say this for the Bears: they did put together a game-winning drive when it was needed.
Justin Fields threw a stunning 36-yard pass to D.J. Moore with 55 seconds left, one of his first long passes in a night of conservative and poor offense. This set up the go-ahead 30-yard field goal.
The Vikings arrived at 6-5 and in solid standing in the NFC playoff chase. The performance of Joshua Dobbs, who threw four interceptions, and the offense as a whole on Monday night calls into question how long they will be in that battle.
It was a horrible prime-time game, with the Vikings losing more than the Bears winning.
Vikings, Joshua Dobbs comes out flat.
For a few weeks after the Vikings acquired him, Dobbs appeared to be a miracle worker. He was shorthand for clubs’ failures to solve their backup quarterback position, whether it was the Browns sending him away or the Jets failing to trade for him.
Then Dobbs delivered one of the worst halves of football a quarterback can perform.
His first completion came 10 minutes into the second half. When he threw his second interception, which was more due to Jordan Addison’s failure to grab it than Dobbs, he was 3 of 6 for nine yards with two interceptions and a 16.7 rating. Then, on Minnesota’s following drive, he attempted a pick-six, but Bears CB Jaylon Johnson dropped it.
He and the rest of the Vikings were absolutely terrible.
The Bears couldn’t take full advantage. At the two-minute warning in the first half, the Vikings had 24 yards yet trailed only 3-0. When Dobbs finally completed a few of passes late in the half and Minnesota was in the red zone due to a defensive pass interference penalty, he immediately took an intentional grounding penalty, which halted the drive. At least the Vikings scored a field goal.
Given how flat the Vikings were as a team and how horrible Dobbs was playing, Minnesota’s 3-3 tie at halftime appeared to be a big win.
Vikings finally score!
The Vikings may have been desperate for a spark when they went for it on fourth-and-7 near midfield early in the third quarter. They threw it a yard short of the first down, and Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon shoved T.J. Hockenson out of bounds, giving the Bears possession on downs. Given how the offense looked, it’s hard to fault Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell for wanting to get anything going.
It’s difficult to pinpoint a low point in the Vikings’ disastrous performance, but Dobbs’ interception in the fourth quarter was particularly bad. He panicked under pressure and tried getting rid of the ball short over the middle; it came wobbling out of his hands, and defensive tackle Justin Jones tried picking it.
And how did the Bears follow up on their gift? Fields fumbled it away deep in Viking territory.
