The Chicago Bears finally won one of these up-for-grab games after all those painful finishes.
Cairo Santos on Monday made a 30-yard field goal with 10 seconds left, his fourth of the night after a miss on the opening drive, and the Bears had four interceptions of Joshua Dobbs in a defense-dominated 12-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
“Proud of everyone for fighting to the end, no matter what,” said Justin Fields, who lost two fumbles in the fourth quarter before a third-and-10 completion to D.J. Moore for 36 yards put the ball at the 13 with 55 seconds left to set up the winning kick.
Photo: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY
The Bears (4-8) stopped a 12-game National Football Conference North losing streak, including six in a row against the Vikings (6-6).
“He came back like a true leader does — somebody on the rise as a young quarterback. They just block that out and make that throw,” said Moore, who had 11 catches for 114 yards.
The Vikings, who cautiously chose to hold star wide receiver Justin Jefferson out for another game with his hamstring injury, were as helpless as ever on offense with only a field goal by Greg Joseph at the end of the first half to show for the first 54-plus minutes.
Dobbs threw the go-ahead score to T.J. Hockenson with 5:54 left, but the Vikings stalled out again after that at the worst possible time.
After Fields rumbled for a first down, Josh Metellus jarred the ball loose that Anthony Barr recovered at the Chicago 43. The Vikings ran for no gain and 1 yard, before a screen pass lost 1 yard. Then Ryan Wright sailed his punt out of bounds, netting just 26 yards, and the Bears had the ball at their 22 instead of being pinned deep. Only 59 seconds came off the clock.
The Bears, who blew a 12-point lead with about three minutes left last week in defeat at Detroit, forced four turnovers for the second straight game. Jaylon Johnson, Jaquan Brisker, T.J. Edwards and Kyler Gordon had the interceptions, three off deflected balls.
Gordon’s diving grab with 12:32 to go and a 9-3 lead gave the Bears the ball at the Minnesota 38, but five plays later, Danielle Hunter — whose takedown of Fields in Chicago on Oct. 15 dislocated the quarterback’s thumb and sidelined him for the next five games — dislodged the ball during a sack that Sheldon Day recovered at the Minnesota 23.
“We love the game on us,” Gordon said. “We want to be the ones to close the game out and be clutch.”
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