Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – The Minnesota Vikings, already headed to the NFL playoffs, bolstered their bid for the NFC North division title on Monday, beating the Chicago Bears 30-12 for a seventh straight NFL victory. Minnesota, assured of a playoff berth after Seattle lost to Green Bay on Sunday, improved to 12-2 and pulled into a tie with the Detroit Lions atop the NFC North. They’re in the hunt for the top seed in the NFC with the Philadelphia Eagles also at 12-2 in the East.
Up 13-0 at halftime, the Vikings pulled away with one-yard touchdown runs by Aaron Jones and Cam Akers in the second half. Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold completed 24 of 40 passes for 231 yards with a seven-yard touchdown throw to Justin Jefferson in the first quarter. A rugged defensive performance from Minnesota saw the Bears held without a touchdown until late in the fourth quarter when quarterback Caleb Williams found Keenan Allen with a 16-yard scoring pass.
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D’Andre Smith ran for 79 yards for the Bears, but he was stopped for no gain on a fourth-and-one play on Chicago’s opening possession and again on fourth-and-one in the second quarter. In the third, Swift’s apparent touchdown run was negated by a penalty after offensive lineman Doug Kramer failed to report as an eligible receiver when he entered the game. The Bears settled for a 29-yard field goal, and kicker Cairo Santos added another early in the fourth quarter to pull the Bears within 20-6.
Will Reichard booted three field goals for the Vikings, capping the scoring with a 46-yarder with 1:12 remaining. “Really, to me, it was about our defense’s effort tonight,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It just felt like when we needed a play, those guys made it.” O’Connell said the game was “not to our standard offensively” but added: “It’s always good to look up and have 30 points on the board when you feel like maybe you didn’t play your best game offensively.”
In Las Vegas, Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins ended his four-game touchdown pass drought and the Falcons held off a late comeback bid by the Raiders for a 15-9 victory. The Falcons snapped a four-game losing streak, improving to 7-7 to keep in touch with the 8-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the race for the NFC South. Cousins hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass since a win over Dallas on November 3 and had thrown eight interceptions in the four games since. He passed for 112 yards with one interception and hit Drake London for a TD in the first quarter.
“It’s not where I want it to be,” he admitted of his own play. “There’s a lot of room for improvement.” Younghoe Koo kicked two field goals for Atlanta and defensive lineman Zach Harrison tackled Raiders running back Alexander Mattison for a safety. The Raiders were still threatening late, but quarterback Desmond Ridder failed to connect on two passes into the end zone in the last 10 seconds. The first was incomplete and the second was intercepted.
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