Where did Chicago’s moribund offense go?
For much of the season, the Bears struggled to move the ball, and at one point lost six straight games because of it. One of those losses was 19-13 at home against the Vikings on Nov. 16, Monday Night Football, when they managed all of 149 yards.
Those days seem long gone now. The Bears piled up 397 yards in Sunday’s 33-27 victory over Minnesota at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“We didn’t play very well defensively,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “The last time we played them, they didn’t score a touchdown on us defensively. And this week we couldn’t slow them down.”
In the teams’ first meeting, Nick Foles quarterbacked the Bears, who also were missing running back David Montgomery due to a concussion. On Sunday, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, who seemingly has been reborn in recent weeks, completed 15 of 21 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown, plus ran eight times for 34 yards. Montgomery carried 32 times for 146 yards, both career highs, and two touchdowns.
“Didn’t do a good job on the bootlegs, didn’t do a good job in the run game,” Zimmer said. “That was really disappointing.”
Before Sunday’s game, Zimmer talked about how much his defense was improving. It regressed on Sunday.
But Chicago (7-7) has come a long way on offense in the recent weeks under Trubisky, who has started four straight games after Foles suffered a hip injury late in the game against Minnesota, and hasn’t played since.
The Bears came in Sunday averaging 33 points in their previous two games, and that’s how many they scored against the Vikings. They have won two straight after snapping their six-game losing streak, and moved ahead of Minnesota (6-8) in the NFC playoff race.
“We’re excited,” said Trubisky, who didn’t play well at the start of the season and lost his starting job to Foles. “I mean, this is what you play for. You play for an opportunity to get into the playoffs, and we had a bad streak going there. But we knew if we stuck together and battled as a family and just kept leaning on each other that we could make a run.”
The Bears’ improved play on offense turned Sunday’s game into a shootout, which is hardly normal for the series. The combined 60 points were the most in a game between the teams since the Bears beat the Vikings 31-30 at Soldier Field in 2013.
“They put up 30-plus points last week and this week,” Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins said after watching Chicago’s improved offense. “Anytime you do that in this league, you’re doing something right.”
The Bears actually have scored 30 or more points in three straight games. And they’re averaging 31 points in four games since the Vikings shut them down last month.
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Revived Bears offense looking nothing like it did in first game vs. Vikings - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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