They did it. They finally did it. Instead of squandering another golden opportunity to win a game, the Bears found a way to win with a thrilling two-minute comeback drive. The win gave Justin Fields a rare, clutch fourth-quarter performance. It gave Matt Eberflus his first win against an NFC North opponent. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a breakthrough after weeks and weeks of coming up short.
Here are the studs and duds from Week 12:
STUDS
JAYLON JOHNSON
Johnson is on a quest to earn All-Pro honors this year, and Monday night was a big step towards that goal. The big highlight was an athletic interception in the second quarter where Johnson fully extended to make a catch while backpedaling in zone defense. Johnson had another opportunity for an interception– and probably a touchdown too– when he perfectly undercut a pass with nothing but green grass in front of him. But he couldn’t reel in the ball to finish the play. Johnson was strong outside of his pass coverage, too. He made a couple of good open field tackles, which is a must for corners in Matt Eberflus’ offense.
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TERELL SMITH
With Tyrique Stevenson sidelined Smith drew the third start of his career, and he made the most of it. The big charge for Bears rookie DBs has been to limit big plays down the field, and Smith succeeded. He gave up some catches, but no explosives. More importantly, Smith did a great job of keeping receivers and ball carriers in front of him and made many open field tackles. The cornerback left the game in the fourth quarter but still ended up leading the team with eight tackles. Easy to see why the coaching staff is so high on his future.
CAIRO SANTOS
Chicago Bears
Santos missed his first field goal attempt of the game, and for most of the night that moment felt like a harbinger of missed opportunities to come. But Santos, who has been one of the most reliable kickers in the NFL this year, shook off the rare miss and hit on his next four attempts. He scored all 12 of the Bears’ points, including the game-winner in the waning seconds of the game. In the process he tied a career-long with a 55-yard make.
DUDS
OFFENSIVE LINE
The Bears felt like they’d finally shored up their protection for Justin Fields when Nate Davis returned from his ankle injury to take over at right guard and when Teven Jenkins moved back to left guard. But almost everyone on the Bears line struggled at some point against the Vikings defensive linemen.
Lucas Patrick let Sheldon Day through the backfield quickly. Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright each got pushed backwards easily. Everyone struggled to generate consistent push in the run game. The result was lots of pressure on Justin Fields and a pedestrian day on the ground for the running backs.
LUKE GETSY
Getsy has generally been solid when creating scripted plays to start a game– although some decisions like a throw to the fullback or a tight end screen have been headscratchers. Once the Bears run out of scripted plays however, the offense seems to run out of juice. Part of that is due to Getsy’s curious play calling.
On Monday it was clear the Bears wanted to get the ball out of Fields’ hands quickly to mitigate the damage from Brian Flores’ exotic blitzes, but it seemed they only had one solution: screens, screens and more screens. It didn’t take long for the Vikings to catch up and they started jumping the routes. On one occasion it looked like the Vikings were destined for a pick-six, but they let the ball fall harmlessly to the ground, so the most damage the Bears sustained was a couple of PBUs and TFLs.
This isn’t the first time this has happened either. In Week 2 Getsy dialed up screens on three snaps in a row near the end of the game. On the third, the Buccaneers knew what was coming, undercut the throw, and returned it for a back-breaking touchdown.
KHALIL HERBERT
The stage was set for Herbert to make a splash on Monday Night Football. He was two weeks removed from his IR stint, and D’Onta Foreman was on the shelf with an ankle injury of his own. But Herbert was largely outsnapped by rookie Roschon Johnson and didn’t do much with the few opportunities he did receive. Other than a couple of fourth-quarter carries, he didn’t show the elusiveness or burst that we’ve become accustomed to seeing and finished with below-average numbers.
Herbert carried the ball just six times for 24 yards and added two catches for 14 receiving yards.
