Hub Arkush: Bears hit rock bottom in bizarre performance against Vikings

CHICAGO – Well, it took 45 years on the job but it’s finally happened.

I have absolutely no idea what to say.

It’s not that I’m afraid of being right or wrong, positive or negative, controversial or milquetoast.

It’s just that I watched the entirety of what was supposed to be an NFL game Monday night at Soldier Field, another loss for the Chicago Bears, this time 17-9 to the Minnesota Vikings, and I have no idea what I saw.

Minnesota came into the game second in the NFL protecting Kirk Cousins. Yet with Akiem Hicks returning to the Bears’ lineup with a vengeance and Robert Quinn doing what he does all night long, each sacking Cousins twice, the Bears’ Covid-ravaged defense owned the line of scrimmage with Roquan Smith seemingly flying everywhere behind them.

The Bears seriously outplayed the Vikings almost all night long and yet somehow were never really in the game.

So how does that happen?

It starts with a string of ridiculous penalties, some on out-of-control youngsters like Trevis Gipson and Teven Jenkins, who have to know better if they’re going to play at this level, and others on officials who if I didn’t know better, I think, I’d say were hallucinating their way through the game.

It is not why the Bears lost, but it was possibly the worst officiated game I’ve ever seen, and the Bears bore the brunt of it.

The Vikings didn’t need the help from the officials however; the Bears were determined to lose this one on their own.

Another fumble by Justin Fields on the second possession of the game at the Vikings’ 46 was just not protecting the football.

On their next possession, trailing 10-0, Fields lead them 55 yards on seven plays before David Montgomery fumbled at the Vikings’ 10, battling too hard in the scrum and getting the ball ripped out by Sheldon Richardson. And on the second play of the fourth quarter, with Jakeem Grant out with a concussion, Damiere Byrd muffed a punt, giving the ball back to the Vikings at the Bears’ 37.

On the two most bizarre plays of the game, although nobody in the building seemed to know what had happened.

On third-and-4 with 2:47 left in the third quarter, Cousins scrambled 3 yards to the Vikings’ 13 to set up fourth-and-1. But an official signaled first down and the chains moved.

While the Vikings lined up to run the next play, a livid Matt Nagy struggled to get a challenge called, the officials finally stopped the play, moved the chains back without a challenge and had the Vikings punt with no explanation.

Things got even stranger a few minutes later when after another change of possessions the Bears took over at their own 10. On first down, Fields took a snap under center dropped three steps and inexplicably took a knee, got up and then was driven back to the ground by James Lynch.

Lynch was called for roughing, taking the ball out to the Bears’ 18, but no one in the press box had any clue why Fields was taking a knee.

At that point it had just become theatre of the absurd.

Going in, if you had known the Bears with 14 players on the COVID-19 list would outgain the Vikings, 370-193, and manage 24 first downs compared to the Vikings’ 13, would you have assumed they went home with a win?

Beyond the unexplainable there were a few very disturbing things to help explain the problem.

The Bears were once again only 2 of 12 on third down and this time 2 of 5 on fourth down, and Fields was sacked three times for 30 yards, all three of which he ran his way into.

None of them were on the offensive line and the 30 yards were amassed with him running backwards seemingly without a clue what he was doing.

All in all, it was just an incredibly disturbing performance from a team that competed beyond our imagination but at the same time seemed to have no idea what they were doing a good part of the evening.