During the Vikings' last trip to Soldier Field, quarterback Kirk Cousins played well on a Monday night. He limited damage by a dangerous Bears defense with quick and clean passes.
There was one interception, but receiver Adam Thielen bobbled the ball into the arms of Bears defensive end Khalil Mack. Thielen later caught a fourth-quarter touchdown. The Vikings left with a rare win in Soldier Field, 19-13.
Cousins' play under pressure, because he always seems to get attacked by Bears, was a big reason the Vikings crawled to that win. He was sacked just once on 37 dropbacks despite being pressured at a top-10 rate for the week.
Now Cousins and the Vikings are headed back to Chicago on Monday night, a week after an enigmatic performance against the Steelers. He was especially poor under duress, with no completions on 11 throws with two interceptions, according to Pro Football Focus, representing a few low points in an otherwise strong night for the offense.
"When you have 450 yards of offense and you score 36 points, it's hard to complain," Cousins said after the Thursday night win. "Our offensive line did a tremendous job, and I'm proud of the way we played against a front with a lot of big names, and they're a tough team. I was proud of the way we ran the football."
While this isn't the same Bears defense — Mack is on injured reserve, Akiem Hicks hasn't played in over a month, and Roquan Smith reinjured a hamstring on Sunday night — they've still got nose tackle Eddie Goldman, edge rusher Robert Quinn and some game wreckers. Let's look at how the Vikings are set up for Monday night.
1. The Bears haven't fared well against play-action passing attacks from offenses similar to the Vikings. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed 17 of 21 throws for 181 yards and four touchdowns using play action in two games against the Bears this season. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford went 8 of 8 for 155 yards and two scores in Week 1. Chicago allowed a season-worst 322 passing yards to San Francisco's Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 8.
Cousins will need to be better than he was on this play-action shot in the third quarter of last week's win against Pittsburgh. The Steelers load the front against a two-tight end offense, as the Bears will likely do. This specific play has receivers Justin Jefferson (#18) and K.J. Osborn (#17) attacking the middle of Pittsburgh's zone defense. Cousins seemingly reads left to right, from Osborn to Jefferson, in his progression.
The play-action fake draws up the Steelers linebackers, stretching the layers of an apparent Cover 3 defense with the outside corners and lone deep safety responsible for a deep third. But Cousins quickly moves on from Osborn to Jefferson, who is undercut by Steelers linebacker Devin Bush (#55) for the tipped pass and interception.
If a pass is dropped quickly into the open middle field to Osborn, it's likely going down as a clean (not pressured) completion. But this is charted by PFF as a pressured interception as Cousins goes to his second read, Jefferson, and a Steelers' D-line twist gets pressure. Left guard Ezra Cleveland pulled to block the right edge in this max protection, and he appears to miss the twist.
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2. The next passing sequence was strong from Kubiak to Cousins. It was a slog for the offense in the second half against Pittsburgh, and two failed runs led to a third-and-7. Cousins targets Jefferson on an over route, but the ball is jarred loose by a Steelers safety who bails on his deep assignment to jump Jefferson's route.
On the next drive and pass play, the Vikings draw up another Jefferson over route. They successfully bait Steelers safety Terrell Edmunds (#34), who again jumps Jefferson and lets Osborn (#17) go deep solo against the cornerback.
It's another play-action, max-protection situation leaning on the defense's eagerness to stop the run. Cousins is protected well, but what makes this 63-yard touchdown to Osborn is his decisiveness to pull the trigger as soon as Edmunds (#34) sits on Jefferson's over route. Osborn is barely past the safety when the ball is thrown.
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3. The Bears were pressuring Aaron Rodgers on Sunday Night Football, then the Packers pivoted to a quicker passing game. Rodgers was hit three times (two sacks) in the first quarter, shortly before Green Bay fell into a 10-0 hole with a patchwork offensive line.
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson was also a reason why. He's playing well in his second NFL season, and helped keep an early lid on Packers receiver Davante Adams. Then Green Bay set Adams loose on the rest of the Bears secondary.
Adams' 38-yard touchdown in the second quarter came from the slot and against Bears nickel defender Xavier Crawford, who exited after halftime to injury. Adams outran his replacement, defensive back DeAndre Houston-Carson, on this 12-yard catch and run in the third quarter.
With Johnson playing some man-to-man coverage on Adams, which he may against Justin Jefferson on Monday night, the Packers leverage the attention into room to run. Green Bay does this with a concept coordinator Klint Kubiak has on his play sheet, because the Vikings ran this to Jefferson for 15 yards in San Francisco — a week after the Packers ran it on them at U.S. Bank Stadium.
It's a hide route, often dangerous with a fast receiver like Adams (#17) or Jefferson who can outrun defensive fronts laterally and gain the edge. After two successful runs for 16 yards, Rodgers fakes a handoff to A.J. Dillon; the Bears defense lurches toward the run off left tackle. Adams goes against the grain, sneaking behind the line toward the right side and into the open field.
Bears cornerback Artie Burns (#25) follows Packers receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (#83) in a pre-snap motion, carrying Burns out of the way. Johnson (#33) is left chasing Adams from the opposite side of the field.
Cousins completed a similar pass to Jefferson for 15 yards in San Francisco, where they defended it tougher with extra edge pressure to get in his face on the bootleg. But those passes may be easier in Chicago, so long as Kubiak and Cousins do their part to limit the pressure.
