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Perhaps this factual quote summarizes how the Bears' turnaround is coming to an end:
"We just wanted to go out and do it," said linebacker Leonard Floyd. "Be the Chicago Bears."
Being Chicago Bears meant losing. A lot. This meant that opponents were doing the "electric slide" after an interception. It meant throwing challenge flags that gave the ball to the opposing team, not to the Bears a touchdown. This meant that a popular former kicker scored each point and scored a winning goal in the match when a point was defeated. That meant the short period of Mike Glennon.
Now? Being the Chicago Bears is wide receiver Anthony Miller rowing a boat in a goal zone and safety Eddie Jackson who directs one orchestra in the other. It means a defense imposing his will on a match. That means a whole team is off the sideline to celebrate with his much-maligned kicker after hitting a goal to seal a win. It means having a very popular head coach and a list of players suddenly filled with potential players.
More than anything: being the Chicago Bears is now winning, as did this team 25 to 20, on the Minnesota Vikings Sunday night at Soldier Field. The Bears are 7-3 and have a solid grip on the NFC North, a division in which they have been bogged down for too long.
Beat the Vikings, the presumptive preseason favorite in the NFC North, does not make the Bears a team for the playoffs yet. But it proves to them and to the rest of the league that this is a real group, a group that has made considerable progress in 10 games and still has room to grow in the last six.
"You have to understand the situation," said linebacker Khalil Mack. "Knowing that you are facing a divisional opponent, knowing that we are going to face them twice a year, we have to make that jump. You saw that today.
The Bears' defense physically and mentally beats the Vikings, Akiem Hicks devastating the inside of the Minnesota offensive line for five tackles for a loss, a sack and a breakaway pass in a late conversion attempt of two points. Mack injured the Vikings to the left of tackle Riley Reiff, as evidenced by his day of stuffing statistics (one sack, two QB shots, a TFL, a loss, a forced fumble and an escaped catch-up), as well as this:
https://twitter.com/PFF_Sam/status/106434666629459910658
What Mack, Hicks and Floyd (both TFL and a lot of pressure) did was mentally scramble the Minnesota offensive while beating them physically in all areas.
"Who are you blocking? Who are you blocking? That's the question, "said Hicks. You block Leonard Floyd? You block Eddie Goldman? You block Akiem? Are you blocking Khalil? Who will you block? That's the question we want every offense to solve. "
It was not until the middle of the fourth quarter that the Vikings' attack began, but thanks to a few games by Mitch Trubisky and a Parkey umpire's placement, it was not enough. The Bears ended a match in all three phases – offensive, defense, special teams – in the fourth quarter against a good opponent, proving once again that it's about a team in the good direction.
The Bears' quick return from Sunday night to Thursday afternoon with the Detroit Lions will be a challenge, although one of the players said it would be facilitated by Sunday's win.
Perhaps the most important test for quick turnaround will be for this team to design new creative celebrations. Because they might need some of those still on Thanksgiving.
"We have one," laughs Jackson. "We have to add more, though."
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