The Vikings went into Monday night's Week 8 game at Chicago needing to get a big, sweet rebound victory. Instead, much like Charlie Brown, they got a rock.
They fell to 5-2 after being treated to a brutal 20-10 upset loss to the now 2-6 Bears. Was Minnesota's perfect start before a momentum-stopping Week 6 bye a trick? It sure feels that way.
This second straight road loss played out much like what happened to the tune of 21-10 in Philadelphia last week, only minus the turnovers. Quarterback Sam Bradford took six sacks against the Eagles, and the Bears, who hadn't been scaring anyone with their injury-riddled defense, spooked him into five more sacks.
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We already told you that offensive line would be a big problem down the line after their Week 5 win vs. Houston. We also told you last week that Bradford isn't the one dragging their offense down.
Bradford (23 of 37, 228 yards passing, TD, zero INTs, 88.6 passer rating) was under siege all night. He had to be spectacular, since he still got no help from his running game. He was above average, and had no chance to be the better quarterback on the field.
The better QB was Jay Cutler, solid after returning from a right thumb injury (20 of 31, 252 yards, TD, zero INTs, 100.5 rating). But Cutler also had the benefit of facing little pressure from a usually deep, dominant Vikings pass rush and rookie running back Jordan Howard (26 carries, 153 yards, TD) doing whatever he wanted. This was Chicago, working without its two best blockers as guards Josh Sitton and Kyle Long were inactive with injuries.
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Everyone can see the Vikings' offense is struggling because of horrendous blocking, uninspired running and limited receiving pop. But the real disturbing development is how it's trickling over to the other side of the ball. The Vikings were once the ones doing the manhandling. Now opponents have figured out they don't need to take chances offensively to get enough points to beat the Vikings.
Carson Wentz and the Eagles weren't even all that good at utilizing a dink-and-dunk offense, or running the ball, but they were pretty much in control in Week 7 after they got an early kickoff return touchdown. Cutler and the Bears took that to another level.
Chicago had a smart, crisp game plan under offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains with Cutler getting the ball out quickly and spreading the ball around to two backs, three tight ends and three wide receivers. It basically was better execution of the blueprint Philadelphia had all-around, bumped way up by Howard's 202 total yards from scrimmage.
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When you look back at the Vikings' five wins, they were against teams that tried to force the action with big plays down field and/or had limited weapons in the passing game. But now that it's pretty clear that without Adrian Peterson and Bradford working with only one game-changing wideout, Stefon Diggs, with little time to throw, the Vikings are absolutely no threat to either get into or win a shootout.
That's a lack of complementary football, folks, and it always tends to bring down a team. The outlook isn't so good for the Vikings to get up from it.
You can bet Matthew Stafford and the Lions will do the whole diverse-passing-game thing to Minnesota both next week and in Detroit on Thanksgiving. In between, you can bet Kirk Cousins' Redskins and Carson Palmer's Cardinals will bring that, too. Rounding out the rest of the Vikings' NFC slate, Dak Prescott's Cowboys, Aaron Rodgers' Packers and these same Bears again to end the season.
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That of course is only counting one half of the nightmare equation. The Bears were a below-average pass-rushing team that just woke up to get a third of the sacks (15) they had going into the game.
The Lions are above average there, while the Redskins, Cardinals and Packers are in the upper echelon. The Cowboys are tougher than expected with their defensive line, too.
So the only remaining matchups that line up pretty darn well for the Vikings — perfect, really — are against the AFC South messes known as the Jaguars and the Colts.
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The Vikings already made their big trade for Bradford and did their best to find offensive line solutions. Their receiving corps won't be getting a huge spike, even when rookie first-round pick Laquon Treadwell can actually start producing. There's not the preferred late-season bye to make adjustments on the fly. There's still way too much of a winning burden on defense and special teams, and it's led to both cracking over the past two weeks.
Everything is trending the wrong direction, and suddenly, there's no fix in sight.
It was an unhappy Halloween for Mike Zimmer's team, and unfortunately, the Vikings are set up to be haunted by it for a long time.
