Metellus and his teammates are still dreaming about the spectacular Justin Fields pass to DJ Moore that gained 36 yards in the final 60 seconds of the game. This third-and-10 play marked Chicago’s longest of the night and set up the Bears to burn clock before kicking a 30-yard field goal to secure the win.
“Good play by them,” Metellus remarked. “We knew what they like to do; they knew what we were gonna be in. It’s just a good job – their two best players finding a way to make a play at the end of the game.”
Minnesota allowed Chicago to move the ball well on its opening possession, with Fields completing 8-for-8 on a 9-minute drive. However, the Bears came away scoreless when kicker Cairo Santos missed a 48-yard field goal attempt wide right.
Fields finished the evening with a modest stat line: 27-of-37 passing for 217 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating was 87.3, and he also added a game-high 59 rushing yards on 12 carries.
Moore led the Bears with 11 catches for 114 yards, while tight end Cole Kmet was next in line with seven receptions for 43 yards.
The Vikings didn’t give up much to Chicago’s running backs; however, Fields demonstrated his mobility, scrambling 12 times for another 59 yards.
Chicago converted eight of 18 third-down attempts (44 percent) and was successful on its single fourth-down attempt, a fourth-and-10 to close out the first quarter on which Kmet gained 24 yards. Santos kicked a 25-yard field goal to cap the drive and put the Bears up 3-0.
“Defensively, there’s a lot of plays we left out there. Too many times they got three points,” Metellus said. “I know it felt like we could have been playing [well], but on our end, we felt like we could have played a lot better.”
Metellus also expressed frustration about losing a game in which multiple teammates made big plays, such as Sheldon Day recovering a fumble forced by Danielle Hunter, and Barr’s recovery of the second fumble Metellus forced.
“We’ve got guys who can make plays in and out. When we don’t come away with wins when we’ve got so many playmakers on the field, it just sucks,” Metellus said. “You’ve got Sheldon Day coming in doing a great job, AB right back at home and feeling the energy, feeding off of it. We’re definitely doing things to put ourselves in the right position, [but] time’s ticking.”
