The Minnesota Vikings didn’t exactly light up Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon, but they did enough - and in a game like that, enough was the whole story.
Brian Flores’ defense swallowed up Ben Johnson’s Bears offense, and the ugly weather off Lake Michigan only made Chicago’s day harder. However you want to frame it, the result was the same: the Bears managed just three points at home.
That left the Vikings to survive on a diet of field goals, with Will Reichard accounting for all nine Minnesota points. Head coach Kevin O’Connell said after the game that, with Kyler Murray’s injury and Jauan Jennings out, the approach in Chicago was to win ugly.
And that’s exactly what Minnesota did.
The Vikings ran 51 offensive plays, and 28 of them were runs. With co-starting back Jordan Mason on injured reserve, Carson Wentz kept handing it to Aaron Jones, who got 23 carries - his most since November, 2022.
Jones made the workload count. The 31-year-old ran for 106 yards, averaging 4.6 per carry, and produced 43% of Minnesota’s 246 total yards. By the numbers, it was one of the best rushing days he’s had in a Vikings uniform, and maybe the one they needed most.
It also keeps his early-season pace moving fast. Through two games, Jones has 35 carries for 146 yards, a 4.2-yard average, plus the touchdown he scored against the Green Bay Packers. That already puts him more than a quarter of the way to his 2025 rushing total of 548 yards from last season, when he scored only two rushing touchdowns.
The game also had a nasty moment late in the fourth quarter. With a little under six minutes left, Jones took his 18th carry of the day from Wentz and got hit hard by Bears defensive back Tyrique Stevenson before he could get back to the line of scrimmage. Stevenson clearly bowed and led with the crown of his helmet, and Jones’ helmet flew off on impact.
Afterward, Jones showed the black eye from the hit, laughed off the aftermath, and said the trash talk didn’t bother him. He also said he was surprised Stevenson wasn’t flagged.
“You see the scar on my face? Yeah, I got a little scar on my face.
Surprised it wasn’t (called) helmet-to-helmet. Just gotta pop up, get your helmet back, and get ready to play the next play.
My pop up game is strong. It didn’t affect me.
He was talking trash. I wanted to say ‘scoreboard’ but I just let him have it.
He made a good play and move on from there.”
The bigger picture in Minnesota is hard to miss. Through two games, the Vikings have run the ball 62 times and thrown it 44 times, a clear sign that O’Connell is leaning harder into the ground game than he has at any point in his coaching tenure.
Kyler Murray is expected to clear concussion protocol early this week, which would set him up to start again in Week 3 against the Tampa Bay Bucs. Whether the Vikings keep this run-heavy approach with QB1 back under center is the next question.
In Other News...
Vikings Escape Chicago With A Win That Raises A Bigger Question
The Vikings left Chicago with a 9-3 win in a game shaped by the kind of ugly conditions that tend to turn division matchups into survival tests. Aaron Jones carried much of the offense with 105 rushing yards, while Will Reichard accounted for all nine points, and Minnesotas defense did enough in the pressure game to control the night even as the tackling came and went.
What makes the result more interesting is what it says about the Vikings identity on a week when little else was clean. The pass rush showed up, the running game gave them enough balance to avoid leaning too hard on the quarterback, and the defense kept the Bears out of the end zone, but the tackling issues lingered and the game also carried a concerning injury note for Caleb Williams. For a team trying to steady itself in the NFC North, it was a win that helped the standings and still left a bigger question hanging over what Minnesota really is right now. [Read more 🡒]
Caleb Williams Exit Suddenly Looms Over Vikings Bears Rivalry
The latest chapter in the Vikings-Bears rivalry took an uneasy turn in the fourth quarter Sunday when Caleb Williams went down on a non-contact play and could not put any weight on the injured leg. He was carried off the field, then carted to the locker room, turning what had been a hard-fought divisional game into a tense wait for word on Chicagos rookie quarterback.
Medical experts who have looked at the injury believe it is a hamstring strain, the kind of setback that can keep a player out for at least some time. For Minnesota, the immediate concern is the usual one in the division race, with every matchup carrying extra weight, but the bigger picture now includes how long the Bears may have to navigate without the player they are counting on to steady the offense. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Suddenly Have A Myles Price Dilemma Against Chicago
Jauan Jennings being ruled out for Minnesotas Week 2 matchup with Chicago changes the wrinkle on the Vikings depth chart and puts Myles Price in line for a bigger offensive role. Price already has a firm place on special teams, where he led the NFL in kick return yards through Week 1, and the team has also been encouraged by the receiving growth he showed during the preseason. For now, the Vikings are treating him as more than just a return man, but not yet as a full-time offensive answer.
The bigger question is how Minnesota balances that opportunity against the demands of keeping Price on both kickoff and punt return duty. The Vikings plan to spread Jennings offensive snaps around rather than hand the whole load to one player, which makes Prices usage worth watching closely against Chicago. His special teams value is secure, but the way the offense incorporates him could say plenty about how quickly Minnesota thinks he can handle a larger weekly workload. [Read more 🡒]