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 Bridgewater threw for 209 yards and the only touchdown in the
game, leading the Vikings to a 13-9 win over the Chicago Bears,
delivering the first-year head coach his first win inside the NFC
North.
The victory also gave the Vikings seven wins, two more than
Minnesota had last season under coach Leslie Frazier.
"I didn't even think about it, but he came over to me and handed me
the ball and said 'first division win,'" Zimmer said. "I like to
win. The more that we can go and the more we can win, I think it
gives everybody... some hope."
Chicago dropped to 5-11 and big changes could be on the horizon, as
coach Marc Trestman and the Bears won three fewer games in 2014 than
they did in his first season there last year. Trestman has a 3-9 NFC
North record in two seasons, but said he planned to get back to work
Monday on fixing the team's problems "if present the opportunity."
Bridgewater connected with receiver Adam Thielen on a 44-yard
scoring strike with 11 minutes remaining in the third quarter,
taking advantage of a busted coverage and giving the Vikings a 10-6
lead they wouldn't relinquish.
 Bears safety Brock Vereen was playing the middle of the field while
cornerback Damontre Hurst was playing a shallow zone, leaving
Thielen unguarded on the go-route.
"As soon as I got the snap, I just kind of peeked over there,"
Bridgewater said. "It seemed like the corner and the safety had a
miscommunication. Easy throw, just lay it out there and allow
[Thielen] to make the play."
For Thielen, a second-year player from Division II Minnesota State,
it was his first career receiving touchdown. He entered the game
with five catches for 69 yards all season, but finished Sunday with
three catches for 68 yards.
"You might not get a lot of opportunities, but when you do, you have
to make the most of them," Thielen said. "You don't know when your
next time will be."
Minnesota led by four with 8:53 remaining and drove 13 plays all the
way to the Bears 3-yard line. Running back Matt Asiata was stuffed
for no gain on consecutive plays, including on 4th-and-1, giving
quarterback Jay Cutler one final chance with just under three
minutes remaining.
Cutler scrambled for a first down on the first play of the drive,
but a series of penalties moved the Bears backward and on 4th-and-9,
Cutler's pass to tight end Martellus Bennett came up one yard short
of a first down.
"Offensively we didn't get it done," Trestman said. "We had
opportunities [in the Vikings'] end of the field. We weren't able to
convert and we weren't able to get the ball down the field. We
stopped ourselves on too many occasions."
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Kicker Blair Walsh connected on his second field goal of the day
early in the fourth quarter, giving the Vikings a seven-point lead.
Chicago's Marc Mariani returned the ensuing kickoff 67 yards to the
Vikings 35-yard line, putting the Bears in prime position to tie the
score. But Cutler misfired on a third-down pass to Bennett, settling
for a 35-yard field goal by kicker Jay Feely.
Feely made three field goals on the day but missed wide right on a
43-yard attempt in the third quarter that would have made it a 10-9
game.
Cutler, starting one week after being benched for Jimmy Clausen, was
back in as the starter because of Clausen's concussion and finished
23 of 36 passing for 172 yards.
"They showed a lot of different fronts, a lot of different
coverages," Cutler said. "We just couldn't get a rhythm it felt
like."
Asiata finished with 91 yards on 19 carries. Bears running back Matt
Forte had 51 yards on 17 carries to go over 1,000 yards this season
and hauled in eight passes for 23 yards, setting the NFL record for
receptions in a season by a running back with 102.
NOTES: Bears RB Matt Forte's nine-yard run on the first drive of the
game put him over 1,000 rushing yards in 2014. His third-quarter
reception gave him 100 for the season, as Forte became the second
player in NFL history (LaDainian Tomlinson) with 1,000 rushing yards
and 100 receptions in the same season. ... Vikings WR Jarius Wright
left the game in the second quarter with a back injury and did not
return. ... Vikings LB Audie Cole, starting in place of an injured
Chad Greenway, led all players with 14 total tackles, including 11
solos.
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