Vikings vs. Bears: Minnesota heads to Soldier Field for NFC North battle

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Vikings At Bears: Chicago Tacks On A Field Goal

There was a bit of a crazy situation at Soldier Field that appeared to help the Minnesota Vikings back into their game against the Chicago Bears, but after the smoke cleared, the Bears had increased their lead to 18-points.

On a play near midfield, the Bears handed the ball to Matt Forte, who appeared to be tackled at the Minnesota 49-yard line. Then, Vikings safety Mistral Raymond was running with the ball towards the end zone, not being pursued by anyone in a dark blue jersey. After some confusion, the referees ruled that Raymond had scored a touchdown.

Then, referee Scott Green said that the call of a touchdown on the field had been confirmed. And it appeared that the Vikings had cut the lead to 25-16, extra point pending.

Then the officials said they were reviewing the play, and after the review, the referees determined that Forte was down before the football came out, and that the Bears would keep the ball, wiping the touchdown off of the board.

The Bears took advantage of keeping the ball by putting another Robbie Gould field goal on the board, this one from 46 yards out, to make the score 28-10 in favor of Chicago.

That's where we stand with 3:57 left in the third quarter of play at Soldier Field.

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Vikings At Bears: Kyle Rudolph Finds The End Zone

A turnover actually went the way of the Minnesota Vikings in their game against the Chicago Bears, and they took advantage of it, putting the ball into the end zone.

On the Bears' first possession of the second half, Jay Cutler looked for wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who had the ball bounce off his hands and into the hands of Vikings' cornerback Antoine Winfield. The Vikings' oldest player returned the ball down to the Chicago 40-yard line.

The Vikings took just five plays from there, with Christian Ponder and tight end Kyle Rudolph doing most of the damage. The drive concluded with Ponder and Rudolph connecting for a two-yard touchdown pass on first and goal, and the Blair Walsh extra point moved the score to 25-10 in favor of the home team.

The Bears are having all sorts of injury issues, with two offensive linemen going down for a unit that was already thin going into this afternoon's action. Can the Vikings take advantage? If they can, they might be able to climb back into this one.

With 10:36 left in the third quarter of play, the Minnesota Vikings trail the Chicago Bears by a score of 25-10.

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Vikings At Bears: Chicago Cashes In Another Turnover

It was pretty ugly for both the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears to start things out at Soldier Field this afternoon. Now, it's only ugly for one team. . .and, unfortunately for us, it's the Minnesota Vikings.

Christian Ponder threw a pass intended for Devin Aromashodu well over the receiver's head, and it was intercepted by Bears' safety Chris Conte and returned to the Minnesota 13-yard line. Jay Cutler wasted no time, finding former Minnesota Golden Gopher Matt Spaeth along the left sideline for a 13-yard touchdown pass, with the extra point giving Chicago a 25-3 lead over the Vikings.

Minnesota has been simply getting killed on both sides of the football in this game. Their offense can't stay on the field, and their defense can't get off of it. Those two things tend to be a pretty bad combination, and this afternoon is no exception.

We have about a minute and a half remaining in the first half of play at Soldier Field, and the Chicago Bears have turned this one into a rout, leading the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 25-3.

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Vikings At Bears: Chicago Adds Another Touchdown

After the Minnesota Vikings had a promising drive snuffed out without any points, the Chicago Bears went on a huge drive and added another touchdown to take an 18-3 lead over the Vikings at Soldier Field.

The Vikings got the ball into position for kicker Blair Walsh to attempt a 30-yard field goal, but the kick came out way too low and it wound up getting blocked by Bears' defensive lineman Julius Peppers to keep the score at 10-3. On the next drive, the Bears moved the ball down the field on a 14-play, 80-yard drive that took nearly eight minutes off of the clock.

The Bears converted a 4th-and-inches from the Minnesota 42-yard line to keep the drive going, and thanks to a questionable pass interference penalty on Antoine Winfield while defending Brandon Marshall, the Bears got the ball at the 1-yard line, and Michael Bush punched it in for his second touchdown of the day.

On the extra point, with the Bears lined up in the usual extra point formation, holder/punter Adam Podlesh took the snap and fooled everyone by running into the end zone for a two-point conversion to make the score 18-3.

It's been an ugly afternoon for the Vikings so far on both sides of the ball. If they want to keep this from getting completely out of control, they need to do something on their next drive.

With a little less than four minutes left in the first half at Soldier Field, the Minnesota Vikings trail the Chicago Bears by a score of 18-3.

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Vikings At Bears: Chicago Increases Lead To 10-3

The Minnesota Vikings once again allowed the Chicago Bears to have a short field, and the home team once again took advantage of it to increase their lead to 10-3 after one quarter of play at Soldier Field.

Vikings' punter Chris Kluwe got off an ugly 23-yard punt on Minnesota's most recent possession to give the Bears the ball just shy of midfield. Once again, Chicago moved the ball into Minnesota territory, and when it appeared that the Vikings had the Bears stopped on a third down, cornerback A.J. Jefferson was called for unsportsmanlike conduct to give the Bears a fresh set of downs.

On that next set of downs, Bears' quarterback Jay Cutler was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for taunting Jefferson, and on third down a Cutler-to-Marshall connection managed to lose about seven yards. The Bears called on Robbie Gould for a 47-yard field goal attempt, and Gould connected on it to increase Minnesota's lead to 10-3.

That's where we stand after the first quarter of play at Soldier Field, as the Minnesota Vikings trail the Chicago Bears by a score of 10-3.

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Vikings At Bears: Chicago Turns Peterson Fumble Into Touchdown

Neither team has really been lighting it up offensively early at Soldier Field, but the Chicago Bears had a short field thanks to a Minnesota turnover, so they really didn't have to.

After forcing the Bears to punt on their second possession, the Vikings took over at their own 32-yard line. The Vikings handed the ball to Adrian Peterson on first down, and he put it on the turf for the third time this season, with Chicago's Charles Tillman falling on it at the 33-yard line.

The Bears and Jay Cutler went to work from there, converting a couple of big third downs to move down to the Minnesota 1-yard line. Michael Bush took the ball in from there, and Robbie Gould's extra point gave the Bears a 7-3 lead.

Both of the scores in this game have come as the result of short fields. The Vikings can't afford to keep turning the ball over if they want to have success in this one.

We have 7:12 left in the first quarter of play in Chicago, and the Chicago Bears lead the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 7-3.

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Vikings At Bears: Minnesota Turns Fumble Into Field Goal

Things looked like they were getting off to a bad start for the Minnesota Vikings, but things turned around fairly quickly in their game against the Chicago Bears.

The Vikings went three-and-out on their first series, but after a punt, Chicago running back Matt Forte fumbled the ball on Chicago's first play from scrimmage, with linebacker Chad Greenway coming up with the recovery at the Chicago 28-yard line. However, the Vikings couldn't move the ball very far, and faced a field goal attempt from 40 yards out.

That meant another opportunity for rookie placekicker Blair Walsh, and he did what he's done pretty much all season long. . .be dead solid perfect, putting the 40-yard attempt between the uprights to give the Vikings an early 3-0 lead. Obviously the Vikings would have preferred seven, but three isn't bad either.

We have 12:17 remaining in the first quarter at Soldier Field, and the Minnesota Vikings have an early 3-0 lead over the Chicago Bears.