The Bears rallied in dramatic fashion to force overtime Sunday at Soldier Field, but the Vikings escaped with a 30-27 victory on Parker Romo's 29-yard field goal with 2:10 remaining in the extra session.
The Bears scored 11 points in the final :22 of the fourth quarter to erase a 27-16 deficit. They closed the gap to 27-24 with :22 left on Caleb Williams' 1-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen and two-point conversion pass to DJ Moore.
Cairo Santos' subsequent onside kick was recovered by Tarvarius Moore at the Bears' 43 after the ball was touched by the Vikings' Camryn Bynum.
Williams followed with a 27-yard completion over the middle to Moore to the Minnesota 30. With the Bears out of timeouts, Williams spiked the ball with :04 to play. Santos then drilled a 48-yard field goal to tie the game 27-27 as time expired.
The Bears won the overtime coin toss but went three-and-out. The Vikings took over at their own 21 after Tory Taylor's 54 yard-punt and marched to the Chicago 9. Sam Darnold completed 6 of 6 passes for 90 yards to set up Romo's field goal.
"Very disappointing loss," said coach Matt Eberflus. "But I told the guys how proud I was of all of those guys for staying together, the grit and determination that they had to be able to make that an overtime game; being able to score those two touchdowns at the end there, put ourselves in position with the onside kick and deliver the strike down the middle to DJ to kick that field goal to tie it."
Williams performed well in defeat, completing 32 of 47 passes for 340 yards with two touchdowns, no turnovers and a 103.1 passer rating.
"He's growing in front of our eyes," Eberflus said, "and today was a really good growth for him to be able to go out there and execute the way he did and get those drives going at the end to put us in position to win the game."
Eberflus was impressed with how Williams dealt with Minnesota's frequent blitzes.
"I said early in the week that's a tough defense to go against with the different looks and the pressures and the variation of coverage," said the Bears coach. "And I thought he did a really good job of finding the space as we talked about early in the week and getting the ball to our skill."
With Thomas Brown in his second game as their play caller, the Bears compiled 398 yards and scored three touchdowns. Moore caught seven passes for 106 yards and one TD and Allen had nine receptions for 86 yards.
"We've gotten better over these past couple games," Williams said. "I think today was a testament to that: being decisive, receivers and everybody. [But] its tough. It's a tough loss, just because you get the ball in overtime, and you don't go seal the deal. I like to pride myself on two minutes, I like to pride myself on being able to provide efficient drives, and that's not what happened today."
For the Vikings, Darnold connected on 22 of 34 passes for 330 yards with two TDs and a 116.1 passer rating. Receiver Jordan Addison caught eight passes for 162 yards, tight end T.J. Hockenson had seven receptions for 114 yards and running back Aaron Jones rushed for 106 yards and one TD on 22 carries.
On their winning possession in overtime, the Vikings overcame a 9-yard loss on a Montez Sweat sack as well as false start and holding penalties. Darnold connected with Addison for 13 yards on third-and-10, completed a 20-yard pass to Jefferson and hit Hockenson for a 29-yard gain to the Bears' 9.
"The overtime defense was not good enough," Eberflus said. "We ended up getting them in third-and-10. I've got to do a better job there of making the good calls there and execution, we've got to do a better job. That was not what we wanted."
The Bears took a 7-0 lead on Roschon Johnson's 1-yard touchdown run with :53 left in the first quarter. Williams completed 3 of 3 passes for 80 yards on the 7-play, 79-yard drive. The rookie quarterback rifled a pass to Allen between two defenders that gained 40 yards and then rolled to his right and hit D'Andre Swift in stride down the right sideline for 30 yards.
The Vikings answered with a quick 3-play, 67-yard drive that was capped by Darnold's 2-yard TD pass to Addison, tying the score 7-7 on the first play of the second quarter. The score came one play after Darnold rainbowed a 45-yard pass to Addison down the middle of the field.
The Bears responded by marching to the Vikings' 30, with Williams and Allen sustaining the drive with completions of 25 yards on third-and-11 and 7 yards on third-and-7. On third-and-4, the two nearly connected again. But Allen's sensational 24-yard catch was reversed to an incompletion after a replay review showed that the front of his second foot landed out of bounds.
On the next play, Santos' 48-yard field goal attempt was blocked up the middle by defensive lineman Jerry Tillery.
The Vikings followed by grabbing a 14-7 lead on Darnold's 5-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jalen Nailor with 6:29 to play in the first half. The score came two plays after Jaylon Johnson's 35-yard pass interference penalty nullified a Jonathan Owens interception in the end zone and gave Minnesota a first down at the Bears' 6.
Had the play counted, it would have been Owens' second takeaway of the game. On second-and-goal from the 1 on Minnesota's first possession, Owens ripped the ball away from Jones and recovered the fumble at the 2.
Santos' 49-yard field goal as time expired in the first half drew the Bears to within 14-10. Williams connected on 7 of 8 passes for 50 yards on the drive.
In the first half, Williams completed 16 of 22 passes for 176 yards and a 96.0 passer rating, Allen caught six passes for 76 yards and the Bears converted 5 of 10 third-down plays.
The Vikings increased their lead to 17-10 on Romo's 40-yard field goal on the opening possession of the second half. Darnold's 69-yard pass to Addison gave Minnesota first-and-goal at the Bears' 8. But the NFL's No. 1 red-zone defense tightened, highlighted by DeMarcus Walker's second-down sack.
The Vikings widened the margin to 24-10 on Jones' 2-yard TD run late in the third quarter. The score came after Minnesota recovered a punt that hit returner DeAndre Carter's leg as he was trying to elude a bouncing ball at the Bears' 15.
Moore turned a quick screen pass into a 10-yard TD with 7:22 remaining in the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion failed, but the Bears trailed only 24-16.
Romo then gave the Vikings a two-score lead at 27-16 with a 26-yard field goal with 1:56 to play before the Bears staged their late rally to force overtime.
With the loss, the Bears fell to 4-7. They will be back on action Thursday in a Thanksgiving matchup with the Lions in Detroit.
