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 "That's why you play 60 minutes," said Bridgewater, who completed
just 10 of 20 passes for a 38.1 passer rating entering the fourth
quarter.
That's when Bridgewater decided to trust his receivers.
Bridgewater connected with wide receiver Charles Johnson on a
35-yard pass play to set up Blair Walsh for a 36-yard field goal and
give Minnesota a 23-20 win over the Chicago Bears.
"Can't win on the road. Can't win in a temporary stadium," Vikings
coach Mike Zimmer said of purported reasons his team won't win.
"Keep coming up with them."
Running back Adrian Peterson rushed for 103 yards, but Bridgewater
finding his groove in the final 1:49 saved the Vikings (5-2) and
might have buried the Bears.
"At this point, we can't point fingers. We can't let up," Bears
quarterback Jay Cutler said.
Bridgewater completed 10 passes in the first three quarters but hit
the two that counted.
"It's all about how you finish," Zimmer said. "I've been asked the
question about can this guy if he had to lead us back to a victory,
and you saw that today. Teddy made some huge plays when he needs
to."
Vikings backup wide receiver Charles Johnson, who had a 39 1/2-inch
vertical leap coming out of Grand Valley State in 2013, caught a
high-arcing 35-yard jump ball from Bridgewater over Bears safety
Antrel Rolle to get the Vikings to the Chicago 27 with 25 seconds
left. Peterson's 9-yard run on first down set up Walsh's final kick.
"He put that 39-inch vertical to work today," Bridgewater said.
Bridgewater, who finished 17 of 30 for 187 yards, connected with
receiver Stefon Diggs on a third-down curl route and the speedy
rookie spun away from nickel cornerback Sherrick McManis to sprint
inside the left pylon, squeezing past safety Adrian Amos for the
40-yard touchdown that tied the score at 20.
Bears coach John Fox said McManis, who aided the previous Minnesota
drive with a defensive holding penalty, needed to be in better
position.
Diggs caught a team-high six passes for 95 yards. Alshon Jeffery led
the Bears with 10 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown.
The Bears dropped to 2-5 with back-to-back division losses by three
points.
"We've got to coach better. We've got to execute better," Fox said
of Chicago's crunch-time plight.
The Vikings' last two-game winning streak on the road was in
December 2012, when Peterson was wrapping up his 2,097-yard season
with Christian Ponder at quarterback. It's the first win at Chicago
for the Vikings in eight years.
Chicago's final drive -- between Bridgewater's big plays -- lasted
three plays and 47 seconds, ending on a drop by rookie running back
Jeremy Langford.
The Bears had jumped ahead 20-13 on a dramatic score with 4:55 to
play.
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Cutler took a shotgun snap on second-and-goal at the 4 and rambled
right into open pastures with Vikings safety Harrison Smith closing
for a collision right at the goal line. The wreckage resulted in
Cutler landing in the end zone to cap a drive lasting more than
eight minutes.
"Things weren't going our way. It was all self-inflicted,"
Bridgewater said. "We knew this was going to be a 60-minute game,
fight to the finish."
Smith's third-quarter collision with Matt Forte, hit squarely on the
knees on a textbook open-field tackle, sent the Bears' Pro Bowl
running back to the locker room for the rest of the game.
Walsh made a 48-yard field goal to tie the score 13-all early in the
fourth quarter.
Cutler thrived on short, quick throws in the first half behind his
makeshift offensive line but found his groove working mostly to his
left with Jeffery. He hit Jeffery on stop-and-go route -- in the
back-right corner of the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown, knotting
the score at 10.
"I told our guys, we fought, we battled," Fox said.
Vikings cornerback Marcus Sherels got Minnesota on the board when he
coasted down the sideline for a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown
with 3:37 left in the first quarter, the third special teams score
for Bears' opponents this season. Minnesota tacked on a 43-yard
Walsh field goal with 9:05 on the clock in the second quarter.
NOTES: Line judge Ron Marinucci was helped off the field in the
fourth quarter after staggering briefly and falling to the turf. ...
Bears WR Eddie Royal left the game in the second quarter with a knee
injury and did not return. ... OL Matt Slauson made his first career
start at center for the Bears with rookie Hroniss Grassu inactive.
LT Jermon Bushrod was also inactive. Charles Leno started alongside
LG Vladimir Ducasse, who shifted from right guard to take Slauson's
spot. ... Vikings DT Sharrif Floyd was inactive and replaced in the
starting lineup by Tom Johnson. ... Vikings RT T.J. Clemmings
suffered a stinger on the final series of the third quarter but
returned.
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