Minnesota Vikings #14 Stefon Diggs

Minnesota Vikings #14 Stefon Diggs
Jay Cutler returned Monday night to the usual cacophony of national television scrutiny, while Jeremy Langford quietly took his place behind the Bears’ new starting running back.

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But someone else made their way back to Soldier Field in the Bears’ 20-10 upset of the Vikings, and on an appropriate night: Monsters.

The Bears played dress-up on Halloween, wearing their “Monsters of the Midway” uniforms, and then did their best impression of a feared defense, allowing a season-low 258 yards.

Until Sam Bradford found Stefon Diggs for a 25-yard score with 5:41 remaining and behind by 17 points, the Bears were on the verge of snapping the NFL’s longest active streak allowing a touchdown: 66-straight games.

“We just played a great team and we dominated them,” said outside linebacker Pernell McPhee, who recorded his first sack of the season and was credited with four quarterback hurries. “So it’s gotta piss everybody off and say, ‘We shouldn’t lose no more games to teams that we ain’t got no business losing to.’”

The Bears did plenty of that during their 2-6 start. But Monday night gave the defense — and the team — a rare sign of progress entering into their bye.

Against an offensive line called out by their coach last week — Mike Zimmer called the Vikings “soft” after allowing six sacks to the Eagles — the Bears recorded five sacks, tying a season high, and nine quarterback hurries.

“That came out rearing, ready to hit,” said defensive end Akiem Hicks, who had two sacks. “We anticipated that, and I think we countered that effectively.”

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Before the fourth-quarter touchdown, the closest the Vikings came to the end zone was third-and-goal at the Bears’ 2 in the final minute of the first half. Hicks sacked Bradford to force a 30-yard Blair Walsh field goal.

That drive was only alive because defensive end Cornelius Washington left the sideline to celebrate McPhee’s third-down sack. The Bears had forced four punts up that point, including three-straight three-and-out possessions in which the Vikings totaled six yards.

Two Connor Barth Field goals and Jordan Howard’s two-yard touchdown run gave the Bears a 13-3 lead at halftime, and Alshon Jeffery’s first score of the season, an 11-yarder five minutes into the third quarter, increased the Bears’ advantage to 20-3.

Cutler went 20-for-31 for 252 yards after missing five-straight games with sprained right thumb ligaments. Howard was a revelation after two subpar games, running 26 times for 153 yards.

But the defense set the tone. That it was against an inconsistent offense — without running back Jerick McKinnon— is worth noting, though the Bears let other flawed offenses thrive in recent weeks. The Packers, without a functioning running back, hung 26 on them. Arrelious Benn’s 51-yard touchdown that beat the Bears the week before was the Jaguars’ longest play of the season — before or since. Needing a touchdown to win the game, the Colts marched 82 yards for one without so much as a third down in the game’s final minutes.

After allowing five fourth-quarter touchdowns during their three-game losing streak, the Bears defense closed out the game Monday night.

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“That’s what changed for today,” Hicks said. “We played the entire game rather than a half, rather than 45 minutes.”

Minnesota Vikings #28 Adrian Peterson

Minnesota Vikings #28 Adrian Peterson
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minnesota -- Mike Zimmer prepared for decades to be an NFL coach. So when that time came, in January 2014, Zimmer knew exactly what he wanted to do.

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He would use his considerable expertise to rebuild the Minnesota Vikings' defense, then hire experienced coaches to handle the rest of the team. Norv Turner, a head coach for 15 years and an NFL coordinator for eight others, was his choice for the offense.

For most of his 2½ years with the coordinator, Zimmer gave Turner almost complete autonomy. The arrangement sounded ideal and respectful, but ultimately it was a mistake -- one that was born of good intentions, but in the end was responsible for Turner's stunning resignation midway through a 5-2 season.

Zimmer has always said he's had a hand in the team's offensive approach, but the truth came out Wednesday in the raw emotion of Turner's decision.

"I would say that since Norv has been here, I've given him almost 100 percent, total free will in everything that they've done offensively," Zimmer said. "Obviously I'd come in and make suggestions, but there really has never been a time when I have demanded anything from there."

I'm sure Zimmer takes some professional pride in that approach, especially as a longtime assistant himself. Who wouldn't want a boss who stays out of the way? But it rendered him powerless to execute one of the basic jobs of a head coach: to "coach" the assistants.


Mike Zimmer hired Norv Turner as his offensive coordinator in 2014. Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports
Turner is one of the most accomplished coordinators of this generation, and in this case, he was hired to be the head coach of the Vikings' offense. This is never an ideal approach, regardless of the mutual admiration and achievements of the respective parties.

When something goes wrong and a schematic adjustment needs to be made, it's the job of the head coach to step in and make sure it gets done. It's not always pleasant. It could encounter resistance and might be inferred as disrespect, but it's an important part of the checks and balance of leadership, and it was something Zimmer has largely avoided addressing in a direct way through the ups and downs of the Vikings' offense during his tenure.

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His lone attempt was shaking up Turner's staff after the 2015 season. When the music stopped, the Vikings suddenly had two former head coaches -- tight ends coach Pat Shurmur and offensive line coach Tony Sparano -- nipping at Turner's heels. Even those changes were passive aggressive. Zimmer hoped to effect change through the ideas and influence of others.

All it did was lead Turner to believe that he was being disempowered. Close observers of the offense noticed that it increasingly included concepts that Shurmur and quarterback Sam Bradford had used when they were with the Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams. On Wednesday, Turner told ESPN's Ed Werder that he and Zimmer "have different views of where the offense was going."

Anyone watching this season knows that the biggest reason for the Vikings' offensive struggles is injuries. There isn't a team in the NFL that could skip seamlessly through the loss of its starting quarterback, running back and both tackles. But there are always schematic adjustments that can be made to minimize personnel deficiencies, and it doesn't take a genius to understand that Turner didn't agree with the suggestions he was hearing from inside the coaches' room.

I don't blame him. Norv Turner has been coaching his way for a long time. And for the most part, it has worked. Zimmer hired him to do his thing in Minnesota, and Zimmer essentially recused himself from having a substantive role in the direction of the offense.

With Zimmer unable or unwilling to insert himself directly in times of crisis, to guide Turner effectively through adjustments that could be made, this arrangement was doomed from the start.


I don't think Zimmer will make the same mistake again. I asked him Wednesday if he would preside differently over the offense after promoting Shurmur into the coordinator's role. He paused, took some time to consider the answer, and said, "I always had really good dialogue with Norv. So I think I'll continue to have good dialogue with those guys. We'll just have to see where things go."

Shurmur has a tough job ahead of him. He must find a way to score points without an NFL-caliber feature back and with an offensive line that has been getting smoked on a weekly basis.

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Zimmer's job will be tougher, however. Amid a two-game losing streak, he'll need to assert himself once and for all as the coach of the Vikings' offense, defense and special teams. You can pick whatever cliché you want, but I'll go with this: The ship can't go down with someone other than the captain at the

Kansas City Chiefs #87 Travis Kelce

Kansas City Chiefs #87 Travis Kelce
INDIANAPOLIS -- Dee Ford had to wait until Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts was over to say so. But he felt a performance like the one he and his fellow pass-rushers had in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 30-14 victory building during the week.

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“I understood Andrew Luck is going to try to make plays down the field so he is going to hold the ball,’’ said Ford, who had a career-high 3.5 sacks while the Chiefs had a season-high six. “You have to keep rushing him. That’s with any quarterback. But he is not like a Drew Brees (who) gets it out very (quickly).

“So it was imperative that we kept rushing.’’

The Chiefs did keep rushing and displayed a potent pass rush for the first time this season. They had just eight sacks in their first six games.

Perhaps it’s premature to believe that the pass rush is back for good. Luck has been sacked plenty this season. He’s gone down a league-high 31 times.

But the Chiefs have reason to believe that for their rush, the best is yet to come. Ford has seven sacks, putting him in position to challenge for the league title. Buffalo’s Lorenzo Alexander leads with nine, but his team has played one more game than the Chiefs.

Justin Houston, their sack leader in each of the past four seasons, could play as soon as next week. He's been out since having surgery on his balky ACL in February.

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His return should make Ford an even more potent threat.

“He’s not done yet,’’ said linebacker Tamba Hali, one of three other Chiefs players to get at least a half-sack of Luck. “We’re going to try to get him as many as he can possibly get because he’s very, very talented.

“When you have that ability, you’re going to be in the right places. You’ve just got to make plays and he’s doing it.’’KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Tough break for rookie cornerback D.J. White, who was rebounding well from his horrible game early this month against Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

White, who had been playing a lot as the third cornerback, has a broken hand and will be out for Sunday’s game against the Colts in Indianapolis and perhaps beyond.

It’s also a tough break for the Chiefs, who aren’t deep at cornerback and face quarterback Andrew Luck on Sunday. Starting cornerback Phillip Gaines returned to practice on Wednesday after missing most or all of the last three games because of a sore knee and he could play against the Colts.

If Gaines can’t play on Sunday, the Chiefs will have to dig deep into their reserves and go with either Kenneth Acker or Terrance Mitchell as their third cornerback. Neither has played much.

Regardless of who’s in the lineup on Sunday as the second or third cornerback, he’s probably going to see more than his share of action. Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints avoided throwing much against No. 1 cornerback Marcus Peters last Sunday and that could be the start of a trend. Peters leads the NFL with five interceptions.

“That’s a respect thing for Marcus," coach Andy Reid said. “The other guys have to know they’re going to get some action. That’s OK. We’ve got good players there."

White was getting plenty of passes thrown his way but was responding better since the Pittsburgh game.

“He has to understand that it’s not because he’s a young guy," Reid said. “It’s because the guy on the opposite side has a gazillion interceptions. Teams are probably leaning away from (Peters), which makes them throw towards D.J.’s side."

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Peters didn’t get an interception off Brees but he did recover a fumble. The Chiefs did get an interception, though -- a pick-6 by Daniel Sorensen.