In his first season as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach, Kevin O’Connell introduced the mantra of being your best when your best is what is required. His charges took that to heart on Monday night against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.
The Vikings turned an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit into a 10-point lead behind three touchdowns, all of which involved young J.J. McCarthy, and held on at the end of the game to take home a 27-24 victory over their division rivals to start the 2025
NFL season.
The Bears got on the scoreboard first after a three-and-out for the Minnesota offense, as Caleb Williams ran one in on a scramble from nine yards out to give the home team a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. Williams went 6-for-6 on the drive and certainly looked like a different quarterback than he did when the Vikings saw him last season.
Minnesota got on the board early in the second quarter, courtesy of a 31-yard field goal from Will Reichard to make it 7-3. That was all the scoring there was until under a minute remaining in the first half, when Cairo Santos connected on a 42-yard field goal to make it 10-3. The Vikings then got into position for Reichard again after McCarthy’s best pass of the night, hitting Jalen Nailor for a 33-yard gain. Reichard came on for a 59-yard atempt, and he drilled it to make it 10-6 heading into the locker room.
It was a brutal first half for the Minnesota offense, as they didn’t do a whole lot to get J.J. McCarthy comfortable early on. Would the pass to Nailor to close out the half be a sign of things to come?
Well, it certainly wasn’t at first. After forcing a three-and-out of the first Bears possession of the half, McCarthy had a pass intended for Justin Jefferson intercepted by former Viking Nahshon Wright and returned 74 yards for a Chicago touchdown to make it 17-6 just over two minutes into the second half of play.
The Bears started the fourth quarter with a missed 50-yard field goal attempt from Cairo Santos, and the Vikings took advantage by marching down into the red zone. Then, the Vikings finally got themselves into the end zone courtesy of their best player.
McCarthy got his first NFL touchdown pass, as he found Justin Jefferson from 13 yards out for a touchdown. That cut the score to 17-12, and the Vikings failed on a two-point conversion attempt to leave the score right there with just over twelve minutes remaining in the contest.
The Bears then went three-and-out again, featuring the first sack as a Viking for Javon Hargrave, and the Vikings marched down the field again. Then, even after how rough the start they got off to was, they took the lead on McCarthy’s second touchdown pass in a row.
McCarthy found Aaron Jones deep down the right sideline for a 27-yard touchdown, a pass that gave the Vikings the lead at 18-17. McCarthy then found the returning Adam Thielen on the two-point conversion attempt to make it 20-17 with just under ten minutes remaining in the contest.
The Vikings then forced the Bears to punt again, and it was partially deflected by the returning Eric Wilson. Minnesota then took over and pushed into Chicago territory once again. McCarthy then decided to do the honors himself, as he got his first NFL rushing touchdown.
McCarthy ran the ball in from 14 yards out for his third touchdown of the fourth quarter, and the Vikings turned an 11-point deficit into a 10-point lead at 27-17 with just under three minutes remaining.
The Vikings then, for whatever reason, loosened up considerably on defense, and the Bears marched down the field and got into the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown from Williams to Rome Odunze just before the two-minute warning to make the score 27-24.
The Bears kicked the ball deep and Ty Chandler wisely ran the ball out of the end zone, taking the two-minute warning timeout out of play with the Bears having just one timeout left. The Vikings ran the ball with Jordan Mason a few times and drained the clock down to just nine seconds, and the Bears’ desperation play came up well short to help the Vikings escape with a win to start their season.
The Vikings will follow this one up with another prime time game, as they’ll return to U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday Night Football to host the Atlanta Falcons.
The Minnesota Vikings win a thriller at Soldier Field by a final score of 27-24. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
