Vikings keep winning, beat Bears 20-13

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 12/20/2008

 After a shaky first half that included three turnovers, the Vikings rallied from a 13-3 deficit to put the Chicago Bears into hibernation. Adrian Peterson scored two second-half touchdowns, and the Vikings’ defense shut out the Bears in the second half to capture their fifth-straight win.

 The Vikings improved to 8-6 as they continue their march towards the playoffs. “It’s a big win,” said Tavaris Jackson. “It shows that it’s a team game.

 “Offensively in the first half, and pretty much throughout the whole game, we didn’t really play that well,” Jackson continued. “I turned the football over three times. We had a fumble. It just shows how good a team we are.

 “Our defense played great. They [Chicago] really didn’t score any points until we put the defense in bad positions. I just want to take our hat off to our defense, because they did a great job tonight.”

 The Bears offensively were awful; they had only 209 total yards, were just 1-14 on third downs, and did not get a first down until the 8.32 mark of the second quarter. Kyle Orton started at quarterback for the Bears, his first start in two years, and he does not appear to be the solution.

 The Bears are now 5-9 just a year removed from the Super Bowl. They are the sixth Super Bowl team of the last seven that missed the playoffs the year following a Super Bowl loss.

 Jackson showed that he can rally the offense; after trailing 13-3 with just seconds left in the first half, he drove the Vikings into position to get a 48-yard Ryan Longwell field goal and cut the Bears’ lead to 13-6 at the half. The Vikings carried that momentum into the second half and outscored the Bears 14-0 to win 20-13.

 Jackson is now 8-2 as a starting quarterback with the Vikings and threw for a career high 249 yards, completing 18-29 with three interceptions. “This shows that we can win games all type of ways,” said Jackson. “It was a team effort.” 

 Peterson ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns and set a new Vikings record for most yards (1,278) by a first-year running back. He has scored 12 touchdowns this season and is headed to the Pro Bowl along with teammates Chad Hutchinson, Matt Birk, Kevin and Pat Williams, Tony Richardson and Darren Sharper.

 The running-back tandem of Peterson and Chester Taylor this season has set an all-time team rushing record for most yards in a season of 2,025 yards, and they still have two games left, with Washington next Sunday night at the Dome and at Denver.

 The Vikings continue to control the sixth and final NFC playoff spot. “The first half [of the Bears game] we really killed ourselves,” said Peterson, “[with] interceptions and fumbling the ball and just hurting ourselves. But we just came back out in the second half more focused, intent on continuing to run the ball, and eventually we were going to get a big play.”

 The play that ignited the Vikings was Jackson’s 71-yard pass play to Robert Fergusson that set up Peterson’s first touchdown and cut the Bears’ lead to 13-12.

 The Vikings finished 3-3 in the Division vs. Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay in the NFC North. The Vikings have never won the NFC North. But the playoffs are there for the taking with Washington Sunday night at 7:15; that means NBC-TV with Al Michaels and John Madden.

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.