2023 Week 6

Minnesota Vikings @ Chicago Bears

By Ronan McGarry

Last week the Vikings played one of the best teams in the NFL

And while they ultimately lost in heart-breaking fashion as per usual, I was encouraged by the performance overall. This was tempered by concern for the league’s number one wide receiver Justin Jefferson who went out of that game with an apparent leg injury.

Concern mounted to despair as JJ was put onto IR late last week and we as fans had to consider how this strange team could compete without their star. At least we had the opportunity to see our other weapons perform against an old division rival.

Do Poke a Sleeping Bear

The Chicago Bears are one of the worst teams in the league; poorly coached, undermanned, and wracked with controversy. They also entered Week 6 having played two strong games, quarterback Justin Fields showing what made him one of the top rushing threats of the 2022 season while DJ Moore made a case for a top ten WR1.

As an aside I always begrudged the then Vikings back office for not drafting Fields, who I thought was an exciting talent. Admittedly we did draft offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw who has been pretty good…

So, I was anxious about this game, would the offense step up without JJ and play as the above average team I believed them to be? Would the defense be able to keep a lid on the rising DJ Moore and punish a leaky Bears offensive line? Could we stop fumbling the ball?!?

Don’t stop Blitzing

OK so we had a few fumbles, but we recovered all of them! Even if we did need a little help from the Refs. This helped us continue to deny the Soldier Field curse and come away with a 19-13 win.

Unfortunately, the offense looked as you might have expected, laborious. While Kirk played fine, he just seemed to miss connections with his weapons, with KJ, TJ and Addison all having misses or drops. I expect this is something that might improve given the time away from JJ – it must be a huge comfort as a QB to have such a weapon at your disposal. None-the-less he wasn’t helped by a stuttering run game, and things will need to improve if we are to remain competitive until JJ returns.

On the brighter side the defense showed up with a vengeance, limiting Moore, bottling up the run game and harassing Fields until he unfortunately went out with a hand injury. They even quelled the specter of an untested rookie QB coming in to ruin the Vikings day, with Murphy making the game winning pick on Tyson Bagent (even if he did nearly fumble it away!).

Hicks made the game a swinging return for a touchdown, off a beautifully forced fumble from Mettelus, who has been having a great season. Hunter was dominant all day, making it clear why the Vikings shouldn’t be tempted to trade him away.

I was thrilled when the Vikings took on Flores as DC in the offseason and while his brand of all or nothing aggressive defense does ratchet up my stress levels it’s never boring and the players love it. Let’s hope the team can retain him after the season.

Overall, it felt like a messy win, but a win regardless – I know some fans want the Vikings to throw in the towel and look to a high pick next draft but I just can’t support it. When the lads step onto the field I want nothing more for them but to come away with a victory.

Oh, Monday Night

The bane of UK and Ireland Vikings fans and a call to action for the Late Night Vikes, the team will be welcoming the 49ers, possibly the best football team in the NFL to US Bank Stadium this Monday night.

While not invulnerable, as we saw this weekend, the 49ers remain a dominant force and the Vikings will have their hands full as they vie for another win.

 

Written by: Ronan McGarry
Edited by: Tommy Beauchene, Richard Dawson, Jacqui Melrose