If we played a real NFL team tonight we lose

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"purplefaithful" said: Meh... one of the worst offensive game plans I've seen in a long, long while... one of the worst Bears teams I've seen in a long, long while 

Vikings will probably play better vs Rams. They tend to play up or down to their opponents (most of the time). 

I'm curious to see how this .500 type Zimm team plays vs elite NFC talent the next 2 games. 

Probably. But either way, Viking fans will be pissy. Win ugly, fans pissy, focus not on W, but how we played. Lose pretty, fans pissy, focus not on how we played, but on L. Kick dog. 

This Bears team beat the Bengals and blew out the Raiders. Lost in Pittsburgh on the final play. It's an NFL team. At home. On prime time. Against whom we do not matchup well. MIssing players, but so were we. Offense played poorly, defense played well. Opposite of what we're used to. Either way, Vikings one step closer to playoffs. 

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"purplefaithful" said: Meh... one of the worst offensive game plans I've seen in a long, long while... one of the worst Bears teams I've seen in a long, long while 

Vikings will probably play better vs Rams. They tend to play up or down to their opponents (most of the time). 

I'm curious to see how this .500 type Zimm team plays vs elite NFC talent the next 2 games. 

Probably. But either way, Viking fans will be pissy. Win ugly, fans pissy, focus not on W, but how we played. Lose pretty, fans pissy, focus not on how we played, but on L. Kick dog. 

This Bears team beat the Bengals and blew out the Raiders. Lost in Pittsburgh on the final play. It's an NFL team. At home. On prime time. Against whom we do not matchup well. MIssing players, but so were we. Offense played poorly, defense played well. Opposite of what we're used to. Either way, Vikings one step closer to playoffs. 

Regardless of what anyone thinks or feels, the Vikings are now the 7th seed in the playoffs and hold their own destiny in their hands (I believe). With games ahead against the Rams and Packers, if the Vikings were to get in, hard to argue they wouldn't deserve it. I would be shocked personally, but there's hope.

Not sure how you can say the D stepped up, that is a bad Bears team and their struggles are known inside the 20.  I think it was more of their O making our D look better than they really are.

@"SDCAVIKESFAN" said: Not sure how you can say the D stepped up, that is a bad Bears team and their struggles are known inside the 20.  I think it was more of their O making our D look better than they really are.

You mean besides holding the Bears to 3 points (minus the BS TD at the end).  Forcing 3 turnovers all while we had 61 passing yards against an entirely remade bears defensive backfield? 

The Vikings have 99 problems, the D wasn't 1 last night. 

About the only solid I took away from this game is Akiem Hicks would look stellar in purple…sigh…

I believe teams take on the personality of their coach.  Bears were an undisciplined mess much like their coach.  Vikings stubbornly played down to their competition and did not adjust to the competition weaknesses -- like their stubborn coach who has no killer instinct.

The Bears are probably rephrasing the OP thoughts:

If we played a real NFL team we would have lost by 20+

The Bears are a very bad football team that keeps getting worse.  Nagy will be gone and a new HC will have Fields to build around.  

We are going to be competing with the Bears in the HC market which starts in a couple weeks and when we play them the last game of the season.  

The Bears didn't just shoot themselves in the foot last night. They emptied a high capacity clip into one foot, reloaded, then emptied another clip. 

We will no doubt play better against the Rams. And that game will probably come down to a last minute score.

It was an ugly game, but the Vikings always struggle at Chicago, so it was nice to see them get a win. The OL had a bad game. Darrisaw was letting some pressure off of the edge, hopefully just due to him not being 100% and the interior line was eaten alive by Hicks. Chicago was double and even triple teaming Jefferson and between pressure from the pass rush and Osborn and Conklin not taking advantage of the mismatches, then it was really limiting the passing game. I do agree that Kubiak was falling back into the formula of run, run, pass, punt. I still wonder if that is more Zimmer than Kubiak, but it's a problem.

I thought that the DL had a strong game today and Brian Baldinger had a really nice breakdown of the line play. Sheldon Richardson has played really well at end, Pierce being healthy is a big difference, Tomlinson was looking good, and Wonnum was creating a lot of pressure and tallied 3 sacks. There were still some bad run defense, but a lot better than what we've seen most of the year.

Fields really needs to learn how to protect himself. He has a bad tendency to scramble backwards, which led to some huge losses. Even worse, he made some bizarre decisions like a high slide on the Kendricks hit and then taking a knee and quickly popping up near the goal line that led to him taking some huge hits that he did not need to. He can put together some nice stretches, but those hits are going to add up.

We have lost some games this year where we played really well, but fell short.  We didn't play well last night, but still managed the win, you need some ugly wins when you do not play your best during the year.  I will gladly take this win, especially considering our record against the Bears in recent years.  

Our offensive play calling was really disappointing, there was absolutely no rhythm to the offense and it seemed like they had no game plan at all.  I loved how the front 4 played on defense and just not having Breeland on the field made the defense so much better.  Bears got into scoring position often, but I give the defense credit for making the plays they needed to make.  

The Bears offense:

2 of it's top 3Wr's out
starting LT out
A rookie QB
A rookie RT play LT
Best player on offense is a rb name Montgomery and Mooney at Wr.
TE position/Kmet has disappointed.

Vikings Defense was probably the healthiest it has been all year - minus Hunter.  So, I don't want to get overly excited about a defensive performance vs that putrid lineup.  

I am happy for the win, but it was ugly and just further confirmation of how this team is going nowhere fast. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"purplefaithful" said: Meh... one of the worst offensive game plans I've seen in a long, long while... one of the worst Bears teams I've seen in a long, long while 

Vikings will probably play better vs Rams. They tend to play up or down to their opponents (most of the time). 

I'm curious to see how this .500 type Zimm team plays vs elite NFC talent the next 2 games. 

Probably. But either way, Viking fans will be pissy. Win ugly, fans pissy, focus not on W, but how we played. Lose pretty, fans pissy, focus not on how we played, but on L. Kick dog. 

This Bears team beat the Bengals and blew out the Raiders. Lost in Pittsburgh on the final play. It's an NFL team. At home. On prime time. Against whom we do not matchup well. MIssing players, but so were we. Offense played poorly, defense played well. Opposite of what we're used to. Either way, Vikings one step closer to playoffs. 

On one hand, yeah...the Vikings played down to a lesser opponent, again.

on the other hand, we won at a place that had given us fits for years until fairly recently, and against a defense that frankly was eating our QB and RB alive much of the night.  Our D stepped up, we didn't give away the game at the ends of the halves, and we won again in prime time...something else we've frankly sucked at for much of the 21st century.

I get that this season, especially stacked onto last season, has been trying and brutal on already frayed nerves...but if victories are gonna feel like funerals, why not just change it from "The Longship" to "Eeyore and the Thistle B*****s"? (Is that enough asterisks, Mike?)

Seriously, this a joyless board.  We WON.  We've had games stolen, we've lost games due to the dumbest and most frustrating of reasons, but that one felt, at least, in our defense's control all night.

I have no desire for it to bear any resemblance to the tinfoil and Brietbart disaster board yonder, but damn, folks...I think we've taken this season's gloom waaaaaaay too far.

There is nothing mystical about a place that you play football. We haven’t struggled to win in Chicago for years so much as our team hasn’t been able to put a good enough effort or been assembled well enough to win there. If our ghys show up and get the hee ie jeebies and don’t play well because of what building they are in…. What are they doing playing in the NFL. Ok don’t get me wrong I get it that there can be an intimidation factor. But the much larger possibility is that our coaching staff and our front office hasn’t been able to get it done. I don’t put any real mystique into buildings as far as sports go. It is harder to win on the road. But hou had better be able to do it with some degree of efficiency if you want to be a succesful organization. And for me the ghosts of soldier field don’t offer an excuse.

Also I can’t speak for anyone else, but I never said I wasn’t happy with the win. Of course we are all happy with the win. But recognizing what happened and reconciling that with what has been going on with this team are things that have to be taken into account. We have a couple of playoff wins with this regime. One requiring a “miracle play”, where honestly the other team once again shit the bed on what should have been an easy tackle. 

I want positivity. I want excitement, and I want to have something to look forward to. This regime doesn’t give it to me. I don’t have hope. I have a painful longing to be pleasantly surprised. I do think a change will help the team and will help the fanbase. 

@"Mike Olson" said: There is nothing mystical about a place that you play football. We haven’t struggled to win in Chicago for years so much as our team hasn’t been able to put a good enough effort or been assembled well enough to win there. If our ghys show up and get the hee ie jeebies and don’t play well because of what building they are in…. What are they doing playing in the NFL. Ok don’t get me wrong I get it that there can be an intimidation factor. But the much larger possibility is that our coaching staff and our front office hasn’t been able to get it done. I don’t put any real mystique into buildings as far as sports go. It is harder to win on the road. But hou had better be able to do it with some degree of efficiency if you want to be a succesful organization. And for me the ghosts of soldier field don’t offer an excuse.

@"Mike Olson" said: There is nothing mystical about a place that you play football. We haven’t struggled to win in Chicago for years so much as our team hasn’t been able to put a good enough effort or been assembled well enough to win there. If our ghys show up and get the hee ie jeebies and don’t play well because of what building they are in…. What are they doing playing in the NFL. Ok don’t get me wrong I get it that there can be an intimidation factor. But the much larger possibility is that our coaching staff and our front office hasn’t been able to get it done. I don’t put any real mystique into buildings as far as sports go. It is harder to win on the road. But hou had better be able to do it with some degree of efficiency if you want to be a succesful organization. And for me the ghosts of soldier field don’t offer an excuse.

Odds makers give you an automatic 3 point bump just for playing at home.  Just saying...

@"AGRforever" said:

@"Mike Olson" said: There is nothing mystical about a place that you play football. We haven’t struggled to win in Chicago for years so much as our team hasn’t been able to put a good enough effort or been assembled well enough to win there. If our ghys show up and get the hee ie jeebies and don’t play well because of what building they are in…. What are they doing playing in the NFL. Ok don’t get me wrong I get it that there can be an intimidation factor. But the much larger possibility is that our coaching staff and our front office hasn’t been able to get it done. I don’t put any real mystique into buildings as far as sports go. It is harder to win on the road. But hou had better be able to do it with some degree of efficiency if you want to be a succesful organization. And for me the ghosts of soldier field don’t offer an excuse.

Odds makers give you an automatic 3 point bump just for playing at home.  Just saying...

@"Mike Olson" said:

@"AGRforever" said:

@"Mike Olson" said: There is nothing mystical about a place that you play football. We haven’t struggled to win in Chicago for years so much as our team hasn’t been able to put a good enough effort or been assembled well enough to win there. If our ghys show up and get the hee ie jeebies and don’t play well because of what building they are in…. What are they doing playing in the NFL. Ok don’t get me wrong I get it that there can be an intimidation factor. But the much larger possibility is that our coaching staff and our front office hasn’t been able to get it done. I don’t put any real mystique into buildings as far as sports go. It is harder to win on the road. But hou had better be able to do it with some degree of efficiency if you want to be a succesful organization. And for me the ghosts of soldier field don’t offer an excuse.

Odds makers give you an automatic 3 point bump just for playing at home.  Just saying...

Sure. That’s home field advantage. But do they give a soldier field bump? 

@"Mike Olson" said: There is nothing mystical about a place that you play football. We haven’t struggled to win in Chicago for years so much as our team hasn’t been able to put a good enough effort or been assembled well enough to win there. If our ghys show up and get the hee ie jeebies and don’t play well because of what building they are in…. What are they doing playing in the NFL. Ok don’t get me wrong I get it that there can be an intimidation factor. But the much larger possibility is that our coaching staff and our front office hasn’t been able to get it done. I don’t put any real mystique into buildings as far as sports go. It is harder to win on the road. But hou had better be able to do it with some degree of efficiency if you want to be a succesful organization. And for me the ghosts of soldier field don’t offer an excuse.

Ask Favre and Ditka about playing in Minnesota.  Why do fans go to the home games if there there is nothing to home field advantage?  Soldier field is a dump, the field is always slow, the grass long and wet.  Playing sports, there are mystiques, mental blocks of sorts.  Anyone that played sports knows that.