The Minnesota Vikings have passed a couple of key tests in the first two weeks of the season. A week after the Vikings defense dominated Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers in the fourth quarter of the season opener, the Vikings shut down Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears on the road in Week 2.
The Minnesota Vikings are in first place in the NFC North with a 2-0 record. Even though the team lost starting quarterback Kyler Murray early in the first quarter of the opener, the Vikings have displayed the defensive strength to punish two opponents that were perceived to be major threats in the NFC.
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores has seen his defense do amazing things in the first two games of the season. The Bears appeared to have a magician at quarterback in Williams. The team's 59-point performance in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers defense would have intimidated most opponents.
Minnesota was not one of those teams. The Vikings held the Bears to 3 points on a first-quarter field goal by Cairo Santos. Chicago could not put the ball in the end zone and the Bears could not add another field goal.
The Bears were able to unleash two running backs who both exceeded the 100-yard mark in the season opener in D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, and those two were held to 92 combined yards against the Vikings. There were no chunk plays in the running game.
Vikings kept Williams in check
Williams was unable to work any big plays against free safety Harrison Smith and the secondary, and he was held to 138 passing yards with 1 interception. The Bears quarterback was on the run throughout the game and while he showed some of his trademark escapability, the Vikings sacked him 3 times.
Williams was felled by a hamstring injury late in the fourth quarter as he ran away from pressure. That play was the closest the Bears came to scoring a touchdown, but the quarterback had multiple opportunities to pierce the Vikings defense and was unable to come through.
Edge rusher Dallas Turner had Williams on the run throughout, and he had 5 tackles and 2.0 sacks for the Flores defense. Turner has demonstrated that he is an impact player with 3.0 sacks through the first two games.
He sacked Bears backup QB Tyson Bagent on the final play of the game, clinching the Soldier Field upset. The third-year player from Alabama is clearly a star on the rise.
While Turner was the most visible of the Vikings defenders, Blake Cashman had 10 tackles and a sack. Additionally, rookie defensive tackles Caleb Banks and Domonique Orange may be the unheralded heroes of the defense. Banks had 6 tackles and was punishing the Bears' interior blockers throughout the game. Orange only had two tackles on the stat sheet, but he prevented Swift and Monangai from gaining any traction on the interior rushing attempts.
Flores gets full credit from O'Connell
Flores and his defensive scheme have been well-respected around the NFL for several years, but this year's version appears to have taken it up a notch or two.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell knew that Flores had an excellent plan for Williams and the Bears early in the week. âÂÂI really loved the game plan from the time that (Flores) and I sat down on Tuesday to go through it,â OâÂÂConnell said after the game, per The Athletic. âÂÂ(He) and the staff wanted to attack. They wanted to make sure we were playing really good, sound defense, working some of our movement.âÂÂ
The Vikings defense has shown signs of being Super Bowl worthy. Once Murray can return to the lineup and trigger the offense, the Vikings can put themselves in the Super Bowl discussion.
Carson Wentz has done an adequate job of leading the Minnesota offense since he was thrown into action in the first quarter of the season opener. He threw 3 TD passes in the win over the Packers and he has not thrown an interception in either of his first two games. But he is limited in what he can give to the offense and can't create the explosive plays with his legs that Murray is expected to deliver.
Nobody is going to put them ahead of the defending champion Seattle Seahawks or the incredibly talented Los Angeles Rams, but a high-level offense that includes Murray, Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison combined with a defense that just shut down one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the NFL is clearly deserving of respect.
The Vikings have only played two games so there is still much to prove, but this team has a chance to reach a level that Minnesota has been dreaming about for decades.