Vikings’ defense dismantles Bears, enters playoffs peaking

The Minnesota Vikings’ defense put a bow on a brilliant season on Sunday by suffocating the Chicago Bears’ offense.
The 23-10 win at US Bank Stadium made for the third straight game in which the Vikings have held their opponents to 10 points or less – and Chicago’s only score on Sunday came on a trick special teams play. In fact, the last offensive touchdown scored against the Vikings was by Cincinnati, who inherited great field position at the end of the game following a Teddy Bridgewater interception.
Defense doesn’t always win championships but it sure as heck helps and the Vikings will enter the postseason as the best defense in the NFL.
Without two of their starting offensive linemen and short on playmaking receivers, rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky had no chance against the Vikings’ superstar-stuffed defense. In the first half, the Bears had the following results on six drives: Punt, punt, punt, punt, safety, punt.
In the past three games against the Bears, running back Jordan Howard had averaged 5.3 yards per attempt rushing. On Sunday, he was given no chance to break out as Linval Joseph stuffed the middle of the field – including on a third-and-1 – and the Vikings’ linebackers and secondary swarmed him before there was any chance to break off a big gain.
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2017/12/vikings-defense-dismantles-bears-enters-playoffs-peaking/