Vikings delivered a dominant defensive performance that simply wore down the Bears
Associated PressEAGAN, Minn. — Caleb Williams had just trudged off the field after being chased all over the backfield by Minnesota’s Jonathan Greenard during another failed third-down play for Chicago when he plopped down on the bench and rolled his head back in exhaustion. “We were really disciplined, but it just felt explosive, guys flying off the edges,” coach Kevin O’Connell said after the 30-12 victory over the Bears on Monday night. His interception-free streak stretched to eight straight games and 286 consecutive passes, an NFL rookie record, but the Vikings delivered the type of dominant defensive performance they’d been missing lately on their way to a seventh straight win and a 12-2 record to tie Detroit for first place in the NFC North. “He still escaped a few times and made it tough on us on the back end, but they were still chasing him down up front.” What’s working Aaron Jones and Cam Akers scored to give the Vikings two rushing touchdowns in a game for the first time in 2024, and the Vikings turned 27.6% of their rushing attempts into first downs, according to Sportradar, their third-highest rate of the season. Injury report Right tackle Brian O’Neill played 63 of 77 snaps despite a right knee injury — from a Bears defensive lineman rolling up on the back of his leg in the first quarter — that he later aggravated.