Week 12 MNF Recap

Written by: William Petersen •

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Arguably one of the worst primetime games ever played wrapped up the week 12 slate as the Chicago Bears visited the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. Minnesota has revitalized their playoff hopes after the arrival of Josh Dobbs and his impressive run of form since getting traded at the deadline from Arizona. Dobbs’s production level finally came back from Mars as he had one of his worst career games; 22/32 for 185 yards, a touchdown, and four interceptions that would ultimately allow the Bears to hang around all game. The Bears would catch a turnover bug themselves as Justin Fields fumbled on back to back drives with less that would be highlighted by the only touchdown of the game from T.J. Hockenson. The Bears resiliency would prove to be enough as their defense forced Minnesota to punt with two and half minutes left, giving Fields enough time to find DJ Moore for the 11th time and set the Bears up for what would eventually end up as a chip shot field goal for Cairos Santos. The Bears kicked four field goals and did not score a single touchdown but were able to grind out a lackluster primetime game that now brings them to 3-1 in primetime games this season and 1-7 in non primetime fixtures. 12-10 looks more like a high scoring baseball game but Matt Eberflus finally gets his first division win as the Bears head coach and Chicago moves to 4-8 on the year.

Even though the Chicago Bears failed to reach the endzone in their third primetime win of the season, Chicago will feel good knowing the gumption that this team played with tonight. Justin Fields showed signs of greatness early in this game but continued to show the Chicago front office why they should probably ship him in the off-season as they prepare to draft either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye in the 2024 NFL Draft as they currently hold the number 1 and 4 overall picks. DJ Moore continues to show the value he brings to this young receiving core as he hauled in 11 receptions for 114 yards and the eventual game deciding 36 yard reception that would set his kicker up to knock in the game winning field goal. Chicago will continue to try to build off of this win but I am sure their front office would like to see some more losses accumulate on their record in hopes of maintaining a high draft pick as the New England Patriots are now the worst team in the NFL sitting at 2-9. Chicago has another tough division matchup next week as they host the division leading Detroit Lions in their second matchup of the season which came by way of a Lions five point win just two weeks ago.

Josh Dobbs has finally come back to Earth after a streak of five games with a rushing and passing touchdown. Dobbs did not have luck on his side tonight as he threw four interceptions, two being mistakes from his receivers and one a tip by a defender. Dobbs will now try to rebound after single handedly losing the Vikings this football game. The Vikings lack of rushing attack also contributed to this atrocious offensive output, rushing for only 73 total yards. Minnesota now falls to 6-6 and make their playoffs even harder to obtain after dropping a divisional game to a team they should have beaten at home. TJ Hockenson scored the only touchdown of the game and added 5 receptions for 50 yards to round out a mediocre offensive gameplan from Kevin O’Connell and the Minnesota coaching staff. Dobbs ‘s miracle run of electric quarterback play seems to be regressing but will hopefully build more chemistry with his offense as Minnesota heads into their bye week. I would not be surprised to see the Vikings activate star wideout Justin Jefferson following their bye week and could bring Dobbs the safety valve he will need in order to make a wildcard spot.

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