Bears QB Justin Fields’ deep pass sets up game-winner vs. Vikings

MINNEAPOLIS — Justin Fields did the one thing he couldn’t do: fumble.

And then he did it again.

In the span of six-and-a-half minutes Monday, the Bears quarterback coughed the ball up twice, squandering a stellar performance by his defense.

Finally, though, the Bears quarterback closed out a game. On third-and-10 from the Vikings’ 49 with 1:06 to play, Fields found receiver DJ Moore in the middle of the field for a 36-yard gain to set up a 30-yard Cairo Santos field goal.

The Bears’ 12-10 win was the first divisional victory of head coach Matt Eberflus’ career and the first for Fields since Oct. 3, 2021. The Bears are 4-8 entering their bye week.

Santos made a 55-yard field goal on the third play of the fourth quarter to give the Bears a six-point lead Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Cornerback Kyler Gordon interception off a tipped pass four plays later put them in position to go up by two scores. Fields, though, did the one thing that was verboten — fumble. On second-and-10 from the Vikings’ 22 — chip-shot range for Santos — Fields scrambled over right tackle and had the ball slip out of his right arm. The Vikings recovered, down six, with life.

Of course, they marched down the field. Anyone who’s watched a single Bears game this season knew they would. With 5:54 to play, Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs found tight end T.J. Hockenson on a post route in front of safety Eddie Jackson at the goal line. The extra point gave the Vikings’ their first lead of the game.

With a chance to drive the Bears down the field for the win, Fields fumbled again. This time he was hit by Vikings safety Josh Metellus as he scrambled down the middle of the field. Anthony Barr recovered the ball, but the Bears defense forced a three-and-out.

Fields marched the Bears from the 22 to the Vikings’ 12, where Santos made the walk-off winner.

Entering Monday’s game, Fields had a 21.5 passer rating in the final three minutes of Bears games since the start of last year. He hadn’t thrown a touchdown but had one interception.

Santos made a 39-yard field goal on fourth-and-2 midway through the third quarter and then tied his career-high with the 55-yarder in the fourth quarter, pointed at the same goal post as his first-quarter miss.

The Bears had lived this drama before: just eight days earlier, they led the Lions by 12 when kicking off with about four minutes to play. They lost, amazingly, by five, having allowed two touchdowns and a safety. The safety came when Fields was sacked in the game’s final seconds and right tackle Darnell Wright, who’d been beaten, kicked the ball back toward the end zone.

On the Bears’ first drive of the game, Fields completed three different third-down passes before throwing a middle screen to Cole Kmet that went nowhere to set up a 48-yard field goal try by Cairo Santos. Santos, who was 19-for-20 entering Monday night’s game, pushed his kick right.

On the next drive, the Vikings blitzed on fourth-and-10 from the 38. Kmet stayed in to block next to the right tackle, then released late and was wide open. Twenty-three yards later, the Bears had first-and-10 at the Vikings’ 15. They had to settled for a 25-yard Santos field goal, though, when a third-and-4 swing pass to Roschon Johnson went for only one yard.

After running 24 plays for 114 yards in their first two drives, the Bears floundered, running 11 plays for 34 yards the rest of the half.

They weren’t much better in the second half, either. Gifted spectacular field position by their defense, the Bears’ field goal drives went for 34 and 32 yards, respectively.

The Bears recorded interceptions on back-to-back drives in the second quarter — the first by cornerback Jaylon Johnson on a second-down deep shot to Jordan Addison and the second by safety Jaquan Brisker, who caught an Addison tip on third down. The Bears, who had nine interceptions all season entering the game, could have added one more — Johnson had a ball hit both his hands on a third-down incompletion with about three-and-a-half minutes to play in the first half.

The Bears squandered both interception opportunities, though, losing four yards on the first drive and gaining one on the second.

The Vikings’ offense didn’t gain traction until the final two minutes of the half, when quarterback Josh Dobbs threw a 28-yard pass to Brandon Powell along the left sideline and then, on the next play, found K.J. Osborn for 12.

After a timeout, Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon was flagged for pass interference on a deep corner route to tight end T.J. Hockenson that gave the Vikings the ball at the Bears’ 13 with 38 seconds to play. Dobbs was called for intentional grounding on the next play on what would have been a Justin Jones sack, setting up second-and-24 from the 27. An incompletion and a screen pass set up a 34-yard Greg Joseph field goal as time expired in the first half.