Vikings Escape Chicago With Low-Scoring Win on MNF

The Vikings didn't play their best game, but good enough to beat the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Monday Night Football!
Final: Minnesota Vikings 19 Chicago Bears 13

Minnesota:
QB:
K. Cousins 25/36 292 yds 8.1 avg 2 TD 1 INT 100.7 rtg
RB:
D. Cook 30 car 96 yds 3.2 avg 14 long
A. Mattison 2 car 4 yds 2.0 avg 4 long
WR:
J. Jefferson 8 rec 135 yds 16.9 avg 54 long
K. Rudolph 4 rec 63 yds 15.8 avg 22 long 1 fumble lost
A. Thielen 4 rec 43 yds 10.8 avg 2 TD 17 long
C. Beebe 2 rec 16 yds 8.0 avg 12 long
K:
D. Bailey 2/2 FG (37,43) 1/1 XP
DEF:
J. Metellus 1 fumble recovery
H. Smith 1 INT
E. Wilson 1 sack
DJ Wonnum 1 sack

Game Summary:
Coming into MNF I was very skeptical of the Vikings chances. This team has looked really good the last two weeks save for a few technical errors, but yet the Vikings have always had trouble getting an offensive rhythm going in Soldier Field (especially on primetime football).
The first half put those fears away for a little while after the Vikings scored on a Cousins-Thielen connection after fumbling the ball and intercepting Foles on the very next play.
After that the Vikings offense did not score the rest of the first half. They got closer a couple times but in general it was a defensive slow down for both teams for the rest of the half since Chicago could only manage two field goals by the half's end.
Then the Vikings past came back to haunt them as they opened the half letting Cordarrelle Patterson run past the entire special teams unit for a 104 yard kick return. That really hurt. After that however things got a little better. The next drive the Vikings had to punt but the Bears returner muffed the punt and Josh Metellus recovered it for the Vikings all the way down at the Chicago 20 yard line!
Unfortunately the Vikings offense didn't do much with this development as they had to settle for a field goal.
Chicago got the ball back after that and the two teams started trading punts. Until the Vikings got the ball with 5 minutes to go in the 3rd and Cousins threw a deep bomb to rookie WR Justin Jefferson to get the offense down to the 32 yard line of Chicago. However the offense would stall here and settle for another field goal.
The Vikings defense forced yet another 3 and out after this and the Vikings got the ball back hoping to come back on top. They did just this as they marched down and scored on another Cousins-Thielen connection that would end up as the game-winning touchdown. The special teams unit did miss the extra point as there was a botched snap.
After this the Vikings defense took over and didn't allow Chicago to pass midfield.

One item of focus this week for the Vikings needs to be similar to last week, the special teams unit needs more work. The Vikings were fortunate enough to luck out and not need too many big turnovers today so they were able to overcome the lack of prowess on the special teams unit.

Overall I would say this game is an accomplishment for this Vikings team! The Chicago offense made our defense look like a top 5 unit in the league as they held Chicago to only 41 rushing yards and 149 total yards all game! Arguably the best game of the season for those guys, good for them!
The offense had a mediocre performance. They got the job done when needed and didn't lose the game for the team. Not as big of a day as we would have liked from Dalvin Cook as this was his first sub-100 yard day since the abysmal loss to Indianapolis back in Week 2, but he still garnered 96 yards; most of which in the 4th quarter.
Another great note from this game is that rookie WR Justin Jefferson had his 4th 100 yard plus game of the season tonight! He is the first Vikings receiver to have this great of a start to his rookie season since Randy Moss entered the league! 
Lastly, Kirk Cousins finally broke his streak of MNF losses as he won his first MNF start tonight!
The Vikings survived 3 straight division games without losing. If they weren't 4-5 I would be feeling really good right now.

Playoff Picture
Yes, I know a lot of you are saying to not get my hopes up. While I can't promise you that I feel obligated to at least show you the possibilities for the Vikings playoff hopes.
Right now this is how the NFC playoff race stands:
First Round Bye:
1. Green Bay (7-2)
Division Leaders:
2. New Orleans (7-2)
3. Arizona (6-3)
4. Philadelphia (3-5-1)
Wild Cards:
5. Tampa Bay (7-3
6. LA Rams (6-3)
7. Seattle (6-3)
First 3 Out:
Chicago (5-5)
Minnesota (4-5)
Detroit (4-5)

So as you can see, the Vikings do have some groundwork to make up in order to have a shot at the postseason but it is there. It started tonight against the Bears, if they hadn't of been able to win there this would have been nearly impossible.
If you want to see the Vikings make the playoffs and are curious who we need to watch here we go.
First and foremost are our division opponents. The Vikings currently sit at 3-1 in the division so they have the tiebreakers on Chicago and Detroit. They are only a half game back now from the Bears so a win next week puts Minnesota ahead to first team out of the playoffs. But the Vikings need Detroit and Chicago to lose going forward in order to keep their lead.
Next, we need to look at the teams in the wild cards right now. Seattle and LA have been trading spots lately. In my opinion, the Seahawks will make the playoffs and most likely will surpass Arizona for the division crown. This means we need to keep an eye on Arizona, Seattle, and LA to try and grab the 7th seed. We need to hope for at least one of those teams to start losing so we can swap spots. Preferably we would like LA to lose as we may have the tiebreak over them when the time comes, since we currently don't have the tie break over Seattle since we lost to them back in Week 5.
After that we would need to look at the NFC South for more hope. If Tampa Bay shifts down in spots we have a better shot as well. 
Here are the teams to watch between now and Week 17: Detroit, Chicago, Arizona, LA Rams, and Tampa Bay.

Injury Report
Only a few Vikings did not play on Monday night. This mainly includes CB Cameron Dantzler after missing two straight games since suffering a concussion against the Packers in Week 8.
TE Irv Smith Jr was also out for Monday night with a groin injury.

Up Next
Now the Vikings will return home to start a 3-game homestand when the Cowboys come to town next Sunday. Kickoff is on 11/22 at 3:25 PM CT.

​#SKOL