The Minnesota Vikings made the short trip for their week 1 matchup against NFC North rivals, the Chicago Bears, on Monday Night Football, bringing an end to all week 1 games of the new NFL season. <\/p>
This game featured two second-year quarterbacks leading their respective sides as Caleb Williams and J.J. McCarthy led the offenses for the Bears and Vikings<\/a>, respectively. However, this game was McCarthy’s debut as he missed his entire rookie season with an injury. <\/p> The Minnesota Vikings received the opening kickoff but were unable to generate any offense, going 3 and out within no time. In fact, their second drive of the game also went 3 and out, with the team gaining just 11 yards. <\/p> As for the Bears, Williams led a terrific first drive in which he completed 6 of 6 passes for 51 yards to multiple receivers and capped it off with a nice 9-yard rushing touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. <\/p> The game then dragged on with both teams trading multiple punts, with the exception of a lone field goal by the Vikings on their third drive. While Minnesota was having a tough time dealing with the Bears’ defense, Chicago struggled with numerous pre-snap penalties on offense that put them in unfavorable down and distance. <\/p> As the teams headed into halftime with Chicago up 10-6, the headline of the game was the lack of production from Justin Jefferson. The Vikings’ WR1 was targeted just twice in the entire half. He caught 1 pass for just 4 yards. <\/p>Rivalry Game Starts Off Slow<\/h2>