Photo - Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
By: Aj Mansour | KFAN.com
@AjKFAN
Minneapolis, MN - It became pretty obvious, pretty early in Sunday's game in Chicago, that on this day the Minnesota Vikings were indeed severely out matched against the Chicago Bears. Never seeming to find a solid rhythm, the Vikings reverted to the mistake plagued team that frustrated fans through the middle weeks of this spiralling season.
"Very disappointing game," Head Coach Leslie Frazier said to open his postgame press conference. "We did not execute the way we needed to on the road to win against a very good football team...Not the kind of performance you need when you are on the road in the division."
With Jay Cutler back under center, the Bears beat the Vikings down in the form of three forced turnovers (2 fumble recoveries and 1 interception), 11-for-19 offensive conversion rate on third down (58%), 1-for-1 on fourth down (100%) and a time of possession of 37:30 en route to a 25-3 halftime lead and a 28-10 final score.
"It's very difficult to win on the road against a team that thrives off of turnovers when you turn it over at some inopportune times like we did today," Leslie Frazier said. "It's hard to overcome."
Adrian Peterson had an interesting day on Sunday, one that coaches will likely not let him forget anytime soon. Although he did end the day with 108 yards rushing, Adrian started the day with controversy as he was twenty minutes late to the stadium before the game. Peterson still received the start but went on to drop the ball two times bumping his season total to three.
Despite Peterson's turnovers digging a hole for the team, it was a questionable call at the beginning of the second quarter that broke the back of the Minnesota Vikings and turned the game in a severely negative direction for The Purple.
In the midst of a 14 play, 80 yard touchdown drive, Jay Cutler took a shot deep into the endzone towards Bears receiver Brandon Marshall. As Cutler scrambled out to his right, Marshall posted up the smaller Antoine Winfield delivering a forearm shiver to Winfield's chest somehow drawing a defensive pass interference call from the sequence.
"When I saw it, I debated the call," Frazier said. "I'm looking forward to seeing it on tape but from the naked eye I thought Antoine was in great position, I thought he was in position to battle and got shoved but the officials didn't see it that way."
From that point on, the game spiraled out of control very quickly for the Vikings.
With the ball on the 1-yard line, Michael Bush crossed the goal line the next play pushing the game to 16-3. Highlighting a Vikings overload on the left side, the Bears followed the touchdown up with a beautifully designed fake extra point extending their lead to 18-3.
The next drive, Christian Ponder delivered a flat-footed pass right into the hands of Bears safety Chris Conte and Jay Cutler found Matt Spaeth on the next play for a touchdown extending the Bears lead to 25-3.
All in all, it was a 15-point swing that gave the Bears more than they needed to roll to victory.
In reality, while this drive and the errant defensive pass interference call may have put this thing out of hand, the Vikings struggled across the board ultimately leading to their defeat. It was lack of pressure, dropped passes and turnovers that led to the Vikings demise Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
With the bye week behind them, the Vikings are back on a normal schedule this week as they prepare to face-off with an angry Green Bay Packers squad that lost 38-10 at the hands of the New York Giants last night.
Aj Mansour covers Minnesota Sports for KFAN.com. Feel free to leave comments and questions regarding this post in the space provided below. For Vikings' updates and breaking Vikings' news, follow Aj on Twitter. @AjKFAN
