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CHICAGO – Dalvin Cook left the field toward the end of the first quarter against the Bears on Sunday and headed for the dreaded medical tent on the Vikings sideline.
Oh no, not the tent.
Cook exited the tent and returned to the game during the second quarter. A cleat caught him on the leg, that's all. He finished the 29-13 victory with 37 yards on 11 carries and one reception for a yard.
Whew. Crisis adverted.
Now at the end of a rockin' and sockin' 13-4 season during which they won the NFC North Division but finished with a minus-3 point differential, the last thing the Vikings needed was an injury scare to their lead back. Cook, according to coach Kevin O'Connell, should be good to go for the first round of the playoffs against the Giants next weekend.
O'Connell also indicated that he should have other top players available, including Harrison Smith, who missed the game because of a sore knee; Za'Darius Smith, who dealt with a personal issue during the week and has looked hobbled in recent games; and Garrett Bradbury, who has missed several games because of a back injury.
The most important thing about Sunday's game, for the Vikings, was getting out of it healthy.
You can quibble about how the game unfolded, with the leaky defense giving up an unacceptable 42-yard touchdown run to Velus Jones Jr. in the second quarter. I'm not going to hold that against a team that already was missing both Smiths — two of its most effective defensive players — in a game in which they wanted to avoid injuries elsewhere.
It is fair, however, to be concerned about how the Vikings botched the final seconds of the first half when Kirk Cousins didn't throw the ball to the sideline or the end zone on third down with 20 seconds left and no timeouts. He instead hit Cook in the flat, where he was stopped while the clock ticked down. The "mayday" kicking team rushed into formation and Greg Joseph actually made a 24-yard field goal as time expired, but reviews showed the Vikings had 12 men on the field and the points were waved off.
Those details need to be worked out before the elimination games begin.
"We did not handle that situation as cleanly as we wanted to as an offense," O'Connell said.
The Vikings achieved most of their other goals. They scored on their first three possessions to grab early control of the game. The starters disappeared after halftime. And they put the Week 17 slaughter by the Packers behind them.
But it was a surreal scene at the end of the game as Vikings fans in attendance and Bears fans who hadn't yet fled Soldier Field in embarrassment were celebrating.
The Vikings didn't get clocked with injuries.
And the Bears ended up on the clock.
The Bears entered the game 3-13 and needed a loss to nail down at least the second overall pick in the NFL draft. A loss also would keep them alive for the No. 1 pick.
Houston, led by former Bears coach Lovie Smith, provided a lift by blowing a lead against Indianapolis but rallying. The Texans drove down the field, threw a touchdown pass on fourth-and-20 with 50 seconds remaining and got the 2-point conversion to upend the Colts 32-31. That made Houston 3-13-1. Fans cheered throughout Soldier Field as players exited because the Bears' 3-14 record secured Chicago the first overall pick for the first time since 1947.
Unless the Bears trade the pick — which is entirely possible with Justin Fields showing promise as a quarterback — the top player in college is entering the NFC North next season.
It might have been Smith's second-most important victory for the Bears, the other coming when they won the NFC Championship Game in 2006.
The Vikings headed home to prepare for the first round of the playoffs. The Bears can start scheming up a plan to get them back to the playoffs one day. Sunday was the rarest of days, as the winning team and losing team both got what they wanted.
