Three Takeaways from Bears' last-second win over Vikings

Brad Rempel - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 2 hours ago

There is something special brewing in Chicago, as this Bears team is built differently.

Whether that be Ben Johnson and the way he approaches his week-to-week operations or the team finally believing in themselves, the wins are starting to pile up for the Bears.

Not only are the wins piling up, but it's the way the Bears are winning right now that stands out the most, as this team is winning in virtually any way possible. From blocked field goals to late-game touchdowns, to even last-second field goals like we saw on Sunday, the bottom line is the Bears have finally figured out how to win games and are quietly becoming a team no one wants to play.

Cardiac Bears do it again

Talk about a massive change in emotions in less than a minute of game action. After dominating the Vikings through three quarters and holding a 16-3 lead, Chicago was almost dealt with an all-too-familiar nightmare that had the fans thinking of week one déjà vu.

It was in that game where the Bears held a 17-6 lead late in the second half only to have JJ McCarthy put the team on his back to score 21 points down the stretch, capping off a game-winning touchdown run to give the Vikings a week one win. Although not to the same degree in this instance, Chicago nearly blew another double-digit lead to McCarthy, as the kid came through again with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the Vikings on top, 17-16, with less than a minute to go.

Had it not been for the massive Devin Duvernay kick return to help set up the Bears game-winning field goal, things may have been different. However, a win is a win, and the Bears did just enough to put themselves in a position to win with Cairo Santos taking care of the rest.

Forcing turnovers wins games

Of all the things the Bears are doing well this season, forcing turnovers is the one that stands out the most. Sure, you would like their defense to be better, as they currently sit near the bottom of the league in yards allowed and points per game, but with a 7-3 record, all of that is forgotten.

When you look at the Bears' three losses, Chicago not only had a hard time forcing turnovers, but they also struggled to hold on to the ball themselves. Switch over to their seven wins, and the Bears have turned teams over at a ridiculous clip as they now have 21 forced turnovers in their seven wins, with two more coming on Sunday.

No one is expecting them to keep that pace up all season, but if they are going to live and die with a bend, but not break defense that will give up yards, they are going to need to force turnovers to kill drives and win games, which the Bears are doing a great job of right now. It has been a long time since the Bears have played at this level, and now that they are playing at the level they are, they can't take their feet off the gas as they not only have an excellent opportunity to make the postseason, but could wind up winning the NFC North for the first time since 2018.

Keep feeding Loveland

In case you missed Johnson's mid-week presser last week, he mentioned that rookie Luther Burden will be getting far more targets the rest of the way, which will force Olamide Zaccheus to more of a bench role. Burden leads the Bears in average yards per catch and, from all accounts, has shown that he can be an explosive player every time he touches the ball.

The same can be said about fellow rookie Loveland, who, although never directly mentioned as someone who will be getting more touches, has thus forced himself into a more consistent role with the offense. Despite taking eight games to get his feet wet, Loveland has emerged as a significant part of this offense, with the Cincinnati Bengals game serving as his coming-out party.

Since then, Loveland has shown far more consistency when it comes to making plays, including picking up 51 yards on three receptions against the Vikings. His biggest play came in the fourth quarter when Loveland took what looked to be a reasonable third-down play and turned it into a 24-yard scamper. It's that kind of ability that had him as one of the two best tight ends in this year's draft, and why Johnson is finally getting him involved in the offense the way he anticipated when the year started.