Joe's Gameday Recap: Bears 27, Vikings 13

That looked like a win to me. How about the rest of you? Despite their inability to convert on numerous short fields, the Chicago Bears came out of Sunday's 27-13 win over the Minnesota Vikings as clearly the better team. It didn't start off strong, but Chicago's defense (and even the offense) overcame early adversity and miscues en route to the victory.

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Early on, the Bear offense had its issues, after a Cutler pass off Johnny Knox at the end of the first quarter led to an interception. After that, Mike Martz and the offense got a ton of help from the defense and special teams units, which gave them short fields on a regular basis. Too often the Bears had to settle for gield goal attempts, but the problems that have plagued them for so long did not show up. Jay Cutler had plenty of time in the pocket thanks to an improved offensive line performance, He only made one or two really bad decisions with the football, one of which being another costly red zone interception. Luckily it didn't hurt the Bears, as Minnesota had to punt on the following drive. Chicago went 11 for 19 on third down, a nice switch from the horrid production we've seen.

Chicago's defense held tough, taking it away from Brett Favre and the Vikings on four different occasions. Always the gun-slinger, Favre threw this game away as often as he could, handing out gifts to a defense that was more than able to receive. Smith's defense held the Vikings to only 1 of 9 on third down conversions and locked down the vaunted Minnesota running game to only 70 yards on 23 carries. Three interceptions and a fumble forced by Henry Melton killed Minnesota drives routinely. *Please let Brett Favre retire and Brad Childress be fired today*

The real star of the game was Devin Hester. Hester's 147 yards on kick and punt returns gave this team a much-needed spark. Maybe now Lovie will keep him as a kick AND punt returner. His touchdown showcased his ability as a receiver in the right situations. I'll give a bit of credit to Mike Martz as well, who showed a lot of guts on calls today. After having a Greg Olsen touchdown called back because of an Olin Kreutz penalty, Martz went right back to Olsen on the next play which ended up in the endzone. Ballsy.

As for the negatives, there's no denying that the Bears left a lot of points on the board today. With the field positon they were getting, the Bears should have scored 40 on Minnesota easily. Chris Harris was completely out of position on the Percy Harvin touchdown and Danieal Manning committed an idiotic pass interference penalty because he ran into Harvin while not even looking for the ball. If those safety mistakes don't get Major Wright onto the field more, nothing will. (Though Wright was on the field a bit today.) Martz's ground game wasn't great, but it was part of a balanced gameplan, so I can't complain too much. The penalties were unacceptable though. Eleven for 116 yards will kill you on most days. Also, I would have liked to have seen more pressure on Favre. I desperately wanted Peppers to eat him.

Regardless of their problems, the Bears came out and slapped around a weak division rival. That's highly encouraging. Thanks guys. Bear down and happy Jay Cutler day!