Bears at Vikings MNF

[CharVike]

I imagine KOC will have a quick hook for Dobbs if there are any fumbled snaps or turnovers. They need to play clean ball or they will get beat. The Bears are a nothing team that's basically playing out the season. Looks like their HC and GM are sitting on hot seats. Fields is what he is at this point. He will look to hit Moore with a big play or their TE Kmet who is emerging. Fields will look to take off if his 1st read looks bad or his blocking breaks down and has the speed to take it all the way. I look for Metellus to lay a big hit and create a TO. Fields will get worse as the game moves along so I don't see them capable of making a comeback in the 4th. Looks like a ho-hum game with both teams going through the motions waiting for the other to make a mistake. KOC might try a trick play early and perhaps have some player take the snap and try to hit Dobbs with a pass or lateral a pitch to him. Maybe Wright throws a pass from punt formation. Flores D is playing good ball and only gave up one TD last week. The timing sucked but we still had a chance to move into FG range. Couldn't do anything but go backwards. I see a win for the Bear sweep 23-13.

[Cliff]

I imagine KOC will have a quick hook for Dobbs if there are any fumbled snaps or turnovers. They need to play clean ball or they will get beat. The Bears are a nothing team that's basically playing out the season. Looks like their HC and GM are sitting on hot seats. Fields is what he is at this point. He will look to hit Moore with a big play or their TE Kmet who is emerging. Fields will look to take off if his 1st read looks bad or his blocking breaks down and has the speed to take it all the way. I look for Metellus to lay a big hit and create a TO. Fields will get worse as the game moves along so I don't see them capable of making a comeback in the 4th. Looks like a ho-hum game with both teams going through the motions waiting for the other to make a mistake. KOC might try a trick play early and perhaps have some player take the snap and try to hit Dobbs with a pass or lateral a pitch to him. Maybe Wright throws a pass from punt formation. Flores D is playing good ball and only gave up one TD last week. The timing sucked but we still had a chance to move into FG range. Couldn't do anything but go backwards. I see a win for the Bear sweep 23-13.

I don't think they'll pull Dobbs mid-game unless he gets hurt or has a major meltdown. They may change starters the next week, but I can't see it happening during the game.

In the NFL teams live and die by turnovers and that hasn't been any more obvious than for this season with the Vikings. Basically if they lost the TO battle they lost the game and in some of those games they dug the hole really deep. They've played pretty well and kept games close despite having those turnovers. In the Eagles game earlier this season they lost 34-28 despite having 4 fumbles lost to getting 1 INT. I think if they can hold onto the ball and have no less than a -1 in TO differential they can beat anyone.

They have got to hold onto the ball. Ideally generate turnovers too, but not turning it over in the first place is top priority. If they can do that, I think they can hammer the Bears.

They need the win to keep in the playoff hunt. If they beat Detroit in both games they could actually win the division if they continue to play well. I'm not sure how realistic that is given how Detroit has been playing, but it's not out of the realm of possibility especially since Jefferson should be back when they play. If the Vikings can hold onto the ball, they can beat them.

[J. Kapp 11]

I agree with Cliff. I don't think KOC would pull Josh Dobbs unless he got hurt. Dobbs does plenty of things well. He just needs to play with that quiet mind that KOC finally got Cousins to play with. Easier said than done, but inserting Nick Mullens or Jaren Hall probably wouldn't make much of a difference, as neither has logged significant game experience with O'Connell's system.

As everybody is saying, turnovers are key. The Vikings could easily be challenging for the No. 1 seed if they hadn't shot themselves in the foot with turnovers SO MANY TIMES. If they can play turnover-free, they're going to win easily. They have a better roster and better coaching, and they're playing at home.

The other thing for me is what the Vikings do if they get a 2-score lead or more. We're all getting tired of the milk-the-clock strategy with the lead, and with good reason. It's got to stop. You would think KOC HAS to know this, but sometimes I don't think he does. Momentum, once lost, is hard to regain. If the Vikings get out to a sizable lead, they simply MUST add on, or at least play like they want to add on.

Defensively, if the Vikings give up more than 10 points, they ought to be ashamed of themselves. The Bears offense is probably the worst in the NFC. I've watched a number of QB breakdowns of Justin Fields from both J.T. O'Sullivan and Chase Daniels, and both of them place most of the blame on play design, constantly asking the question, "What the hell are the Bears doing here?" Their play designs, their WR spacing, their protections, how Fields handles progressions ... all absolutely terrible, often a disorganized mess. The only offense I've seen that's worse in the NFL is the Jets. The Bears have one thing going for them, and that's Fields' ability to bail them out with his legs. Contain him, and there's no reason the defense shouldn't have a field day. Let him run wild, like the Lions did, and he has the ability to keep the Bears in the game.

All that said, I suppose the Vikings will find a way to let the Bears keep it close. Sigh.

[JJBreaksRecords]

I think it will be a close game as well, 3 points or less deciding. The Vikings simply cant score a lot of points early on and then step on the throat of the other team. I dont think itss in KO's DNA to coach this way, in fact im getting pretty tired of him. His Offense is too hard to learn and make it effective. And KO is way too stubborn to change. Its been that theme for 2 years now. I sure hope he lets Wes call the plays and Flores the Defense, so KO can try and be a HC. We lose tonight, we are toast.

[nyvike1960]

Gutless play calling on Vikings last possession lost game for us in my opinion

[Raz]

As usual plenty of blame to go around. Addison had a bad game. KOC play calling confused at best the oline has regressed and Flores seemed to lose his edge at the end and of course I’ve seen enough of Dobbs six other gms let him go. It was a nice story for awhile but it’s over.
Mattison had a nice game as well as Powel and the defense did what they could.

[Bowhunting Viking]

First off the fact that Fields wasn't flagged for grounding in that last drive is just another example of the horrible and inconsistent officiating that has been on display this season.
But I'm not blaming that for our loss.
As said above , the play calling in our last possession after getting that fumble was gutless. I texted my Bears fan best friend after the 2nd run that we were gonna run again, punt, and then let Chicago move right down the field for a FG attempt. I just felt it.
Then Flores bringing hardly any pressure just made me want to puke.
We should have never been in that game, with Chicago only getting 3 pts off 4 turnovers.
I fell victim to the Dobbs magic after his first 2 games. I shoulda knew it wouldn't last, but it's easy to deceive ourselves sometimes.
So today I get to go on about 3 hrs of sleep, a deep seated anger and constant harassment from co workers. What a beautiful day this is gonna be! Life as a Vikings fan.

[CharVike]

Throwback uniform so both teams decided to make the entire game a throwback match up. Plenty of FGs. PPE vs the Monsters of the Midway again. You had Bobby Douglas I mean Justin Fields out there with the one look, pulling it down, twisting, side stepping, ducking, you name it and then take off. A bunch of quick throws and screen passes to avoid the pass rush. Then at last a deeper throw down the middle to a wide open receiver for an easy completion. The deep pass to Addison on the sideline with nobody covering I have no idea what happened. Neither does he because he signaled 1st down. Unless that was a poke at Dobbs. So much for the quick hook on Dobbs. I thought for sure he would be yanked after the half time break. Maybe Mullens tweaked his back while putting on his helmet.

[J. Kapp 11]

First off the fact that Fields wasn't flagged for grounding in that last drive is just another example of the horrible and inconsistent officiating that has been on display this season.
But I'm not blaming that for our loss.
As said above , the play calling in our last possession after getting that fumble was gutless. I texted my Bears fan best friend after the 2nd run that we were gonna run again, punt, and then let Chicago move right down the field for a FG attempt. I just felt it.
Then Flores bringing hardly any pressure just made me want to puke.
We should have never been in that game, with Chicago only getting 3 pts off 4 turnovers.
I fell victim to the Dobbs magic after his first 2 games. I shoulda knew it wouldn't last, but it's easy to deceive ourselves sometimes.
So today I get to go on about 3 hrs of sleep, a deep seated anger and constant harassment from co workers. What a beautiful day this is gonna be! Life as a Vikings fan.

Agree on the grounding non-call, both that it should’ve been flagged and that it didn’t cost the game.

KOC got conservative because he didn’t trust Dobbs to take care of the ball. He basically said as much after the game without actually saying it outright. And the fact that he didn’t trust Dobbs is a problem.

I fell victim to the Dobbs magic, as well. I’ve stated that in other posts. I’ll still root for him, but it’s become obvious to me that he’s not the guy. You can’t step in front of the media and say all your hopes and dreams are tied to ball security, then go out and throw four bad picks.

Anybody miss Kirk Cousins yet? (Raises both hands)

We fans sometimes look at a QB’s completion percentage and use that as the way to judge a QB’s accuracy. Hopefully we’ve all seen that’s not the case. It’s ball placement that matters. The 4th-and-7 throw to Hockenson was a perfect example. Put the ball slightly in front of him, and it’s a big first down that may lead to better things. But he put it behind Hock, and the defender was able to ride him OB before the sticks. There were many other examples.

It now appears there’s little hope of winning a playoff game. There’s not a ton of hope we even make the playoffs. I’m 63. Don’t know how many more chances I’m gonna get.

[chicagopurple]

well, that was disgusting and "We are who I thought we were" .

After 50 years of being a fan, I am hard pressed to think of a more embarrassing performance by my team. Against a laughably bad opponent that the rest of the league has used as a punching bag all year(s), we failed at all levels.
QB- Dobbs showed us his true colors.
OL- pitiful as near always
Coaching- absolute cowardice by the Defensive Coord when the game was on the line, he played turtle and crawled into his shell when rabid aggressive play had been the answer all day, Offensively they were entirely predictable and overly conservative for no good reason.
WR- nothing but dropped passes, poorly run routes, just pitiful.

I am interested to hear if any of you can recall a more horrendous team performance than this one? I cant.......

[halfgiz]

Kirk didn’t have a good game against the first match up with the Bears. But he had better playing calling.
Dobbs first game when he was allowed to used his legs. 31 points. Since KOC is trying to turn him into a Kirk, not near as many points Not really playing Dobbs strengths.
With all the talent on offensive side of the ball we should be putting up more points. All the games shouldn’t come down to the last series.
The end of the game when the D come up with a turner over.
two runs up the middle with Maddison and a low percentage pass play. WTF
And how about the 20 yard punt to give the Bears good field position.

KOC atrocious play calling and Mattison still getting most of the carries is a head scratcher .
They better get some things fixed during the bye.

[Cliff]

Dobbs looked awful nearly the whole game. His passes in the first half were slow and off target.

4 turnovers is a loss for basically any team.

The only reason it was even close was the defense. They *finally* broke down a little in the end but how do you fault them after the game they had? This was not a "team loss". The offense play is why they lost.

KOC play calling felt "meh" but I don't really know. Execution was so bad even if I thought it was great how would anyone know?

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

In the Vikings at Broncos thread, I stated "Everything I have seen from him so far leads me to believe he is going to be a turnover machine." (speaking of Dobbs)

It was in the Denver game that I knew that this kind of Dobbs game was inevitable. You can never throw the football, in the NFL, without knowing exactly where it is going. You CAN'T just throw the ball up for grabs instead of taking a sack. In all these games where the Vikings have been turning the ball over three or four times, they have actually been luck not to have doubled those numbers. Dobbs easily could have thrown seven INT's last night. Having said that...

KOC can't handcuff Dobbs by forcing him to be a pocket QB. If he insists on having a pocket QB, then Dobbs should never see the field again. It was an ugly ugly game. Other than the last series, the defense was stellar again. After that pitiful performance by the offense, the defense once again came up with a HUGE (and emotional) strip turnover at the end, only to have KOC reward them with three wimpy playcalls. I must say, that mu opinion of O'Connell has fallen quite a bit over the last two weeks.

[makila]

Yeah, as said by others, for all the speculation that KOC wants a more mobile qb...I question if he can actually design an offense around one. He is showing a lot of stubborn square peg round hole traits.

Dobbs is a bad fit if KOC is going to call plays like it's Kirk back there. Dobbs is a journeyman for a reason. It's one thing when one or two nfl teams pass, it's another when it's 1/4 the league that's passed.

Offensive line did no one any favors. Thy were bad. Defense was good all night until final drive. They aren't going to be perfect, especially with four TOs on offense. Don't care what defense you have, very hard to overcome that. We gave up 12 points. Win the damn game.

Addison was bad. That pass on the sideline he has to catch. Don't care if it wasn't "perfect" ball placement. Wide open, walk in touchdown. He has to adjust and be aware of where he is on the field.

[VikeFanInEagleLand]

Yeah, as said by others, for all the speculation that KOC wants a more mobile qb...I question if he can actually design an offense around one. He is showing a lot of stubborn square peg round hole traits.

Dobbs is a bad fit if KOC is going to call plays like it's Kirk back there. Dobbs is a journeyman for a reason. It's one thing when one or two nfl teams pass, it's another when it's 1/4 the league that's passed.

Offensive line did no one any favors. Thy were bad. Defense was good all night until final drive. They aren't going to be perfect, especially with four TOs on offense. Don't care what defense you have, very hard to overcome that. We gave up 12 points. Win the damn game.

Addison was bad. That pass on the sideline he has to catch. Don't care if it wasn't "perfect" ball placement. Wide open, walk in touchdown. He has to adjust and be aware of where he is on the field.

I agree that Addison should have caught that, but it was an AWFUL throw. There was no defender to the inside. The throw shouldn't have been anywhere near the sideline.