Hoge's In-Game Bears-Vikings Thoughts
By Adam Hoge-
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After excelling in all three phases of the games, the Bears moved to 3-3 on the season with a 39-10 win over the Vikings on Sunday night. The win moved the Bears to 1-2 within the NFC North.
Fourth Quarter
With the Bears comfortably leading 39-10, the only question in the fourth quarter was whether or not we would see Caleb Hanie vs. Christian Ponder at quarterback. Well, we saw just that.
Ponder came in for the Vikings and struggled throwing the ball, despite showing off his ability to move with a couple scrambles.
Hanie took over for the Jay Cutler with just under four minutes to play. Hanie didn't show much, as the Bears stuck to the run game to run out the clock.
Overall, this was an impressive performance for the Bears, but everyone needs to remember that this Vikings team is not very good. With that said, Minnesota's defensive line is still pretty good so it was encouraging to see the Bears' offensive line play well. Lance Louis, in particular, had a good game at right tackle.
Third Quarter
These might be the Bears you remember. Cutler fumbled while being sacked, the defense allowed a touchdown and Devin Hester took a kickoff return 98 yards to the house.
Cutler fumbled early in the third quarter and the Vikings marched 44 yards in six plays to score their first touchdown of the game. Adrian Peterson accounted for the score with a 4-yard touchdown run.
Then, just as Bears fans got a little uneasy, the Vikings inexplicably let Hester return a kickoff – no excuse with new kickoff rules – and No. 23 went 98 yards for a touchdown.
Yes, these are the Bears we are used to.
Cutler's fumble was forced by Jared Allen after J'Marcus Webb failed to hold his block on the talented defensive end. Cutler also failed to secure the ball under heavy pressure and was partly to blame. Allen made the sack, forced the fumble and recovered the ball.
Why teams continue to kick to Hester is befuddling. But to allow him to return a kickoff is inexcusable. Believe it or not, punter Chris Kluwe punted to Hester after the touchdown. He got lucky too as Hester stumbled and then failed to see the opening up the middle. It was there.
Second Quarter
The Vikings picked up their offense in the second quarter after gaining only 43 total yards in the first 15 minutes. Donovan McNabb took advantage of the Bears' weaknesses in the secondary and completed 15-of-19 passes for 138 yards.
But while the Bears defense is bending, it's not breaking. They held the Vikings to just one field goal after Ryan Longwell missed his second attempt with 1:55 left in the half. While McNabb has been able to throw the ball, Adrian Peterson hasn't been able to run at all. He has just 16 yards on eight carries.
I really can't stress enough how poorly Minnesota is playing. The sequence of events at the two-minute warning said it all. On fourth-and-3 at the Bears' 16 yard-line, the Vikings brought out their kick team after the two-minute warning but then changed their mind and burned a timeout. Wide receiver Michael Jenkins then committed a false start and they were forced to kick the field goal anyway. Of course, Longwell then missed the kick. Ugly.
Cutler was a little up-and-down in the second quarter. He missed a couple wide open receivers but then threaded the needle on a touchdown pass to Dane Sanzenbacher.
Also worth noting that Chris Williams committed the Bears' only false start penalty of the game so far.
First Quarter
You don't have to be a football genius to know that all Jay Cutler needs is a little time to throw the football. We've been over this countless times over the last three years. Some wide receivers would help, but with adequate blocking, Cutler can make these receivers work.
The Bears' opening drive Sunday night against the Vikings exemplified that as Chicago jumped out to a 16-0 first quarter lead.. After Matt Forte opened the drive with a short three-yard run, Cutler hit Roy Williams in stride on a post route for a 17-yard gain and then made a perfect deep pass to Hester for a 48-yard touchdown. Both plays were blocked perfectly, with tight end Matt Spaeth holding off Vikings defensive end Jared Allen on the touchdown toss. Chris Spencer also threw a huge block on a Marion Barber touchdown run later in the corner. Overall, a great first quarter for the offensive line.
On defense, Bears second round pick Stephen Paea introduced himself to Chicago with a great effort to sack Donovan McNabb in the end zone for a safety. Brian Urlacher came on the blitz and Paea ran through his blocker like bull to put McNabb on the ground. What a great sign for a kid who hadn't even dressed before tonight.
And, after a week of criticism about using timeouts too early, the Bears were forced to burn one on defense in the first minute of the game. The good news, however, that there have been no false starts by the Bears, although they were guilty of an illegal formation penalty.
The Vikings, meanwhile, look horrible. They had two dropped passes on third down and at one point had -5 passing yards.
