CHICAGO – The Bears' climb from 5 to 11 at the top of the NFC North under freshman head coach Matt Nagy was fueled by a creative offensive and defense that leads the league unlike points.

If their 25-20 win over the Vikings on Sunday night – which gave the Bears a lead of one and a half match over Minnesota – has proven to be the catalyst for the Chicago Premier League title since 2010, the Bears will be able to credit their best defensive attributes. , more than their most positive offensive features, to help them defeat the champions of the division in defense.

The fourth defeat of the Vikings season was more due to avoidable results than to unforeseen events. Although they had only 118 yards in three quarters, they stayed close to goal. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, the second year, made some of the neophyte mistakes that resulted from his haunting mobility at the Chicago 6-3 start.

But it was ultimately Kirk Cousins ​​who made the mistake that the Vikings could not afford.

While the Vikings had lost 14 to 6 in the fourth quarter, Cousins ​​attempted to hit Laquon Treadwell on a corner turn that turned into an interception after Eddie Jackson played a game on the ball, bringing it back to Chicago 27 up 22-6 after Trubisky scored his second two-point conversion pass of the night.

"I think with the cover, the ball really should have gone to Stefon [Diggs] in the apartment, "said Cousins. "I was trying to feel the behavior of the defensive back and play fast. Obviously, I felt bad. I thought maybe I could put it there in Laquon, but the [right] The jet was, I think, Stefon in the apartment. I had the impression that the DB was squatting, but it was really not the case. If it's not squatting, it means that security will be in a different place than where I thought it could be, and this led to an interception. "

The interception was the second part of the Cousins ​​night, a third Viking turnover coupled with a fumble from Dalvin Cook that ended a potential goal attempt at the end of the first quarter.

The Bears are now 7-3 and play in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. The Vikings (5-4-1) will play again Sunday night at US Stadium against a team of Packers whose hopes to play are decisive.

The Vikings have now lost their three games in prime time against the teams they are pursuing in the NFC series standings. In all three games, the Vikings returned the ball six times.

"Yes, that's really a concern," coach Mike Zimmer said of the team's repeated mistakes. "Either they do not listen or pay attention, or they do not really care. We will have to know which of the three is involved. "

In two quarters, the Bears kept the ball 19:55, winning 115 of their 202 yards in the first half on the floor. Trubisky scored 37 attempts in six attempts, including a 9-yard run. The Bears 'misdirection helped to create holes in the middle of the Vikings' defense for Jordan Howard, who gained 46 yards in 10 attempts in the first period.

After the Bears ran the ball – or Trubisky scrambled – in seven straight games, the quarterback found Anthony Miller in the back of the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown before Nagy picked out make two with the Bears 9-0. Trubisky defeated Josh Bellamy for the conversion, giving Chicago an 11-point lead. She would be 14 with Cody Parkey's second goal with 50 seconds left in the first half.

While the Bears built their 14-0 lead, the Vikings only managed 77 yards in the first half on 22 games. while under the pressure of Leonard Floyd and had chosen by Adrian Amos.

The first points of the Vikings' night did not come until the final minutes of the third quarter, after Trubisky forced a throw to Allen Robinson with Anthony Harris sitting over the receiver. Harris made his second interception of the match, scoring a goal on Dan Bailey's field after Khalil Mack's first bag and Akiem Hicks' third pressure and Floyd blocked the goal.

The Vikings forced a kickoff after Bailey's second goal with 11:46 left, but in their first offensive game, Cousins ​​launched his interception at Jackson.

"The reasons we lost, you argue, coach Zimmer was sitting here Monday morning and said," These are the keys to victory. We must be good in these areas: red zone offensive, protect football, run well, "said Cousins. "So the reasons we lost did not surprise us, in the sense that we knew that they would be the key to victory and that we were not good enough in those areas."

Ben Goessling covers the Vikings for the Star Tribune. Email: [email protected]