NFL 2025 Week 11: Minnesota Vikings Fall to Chicago Bears in Crushing 17-19 Loss
Minnesota Vikings fans had to wince and turn away as the Chicago Bears walked off their Week 11 matchup with the Vikings on a field goal. The pain was too great to stomach.
This latest loss drops the Vikings to 4-6 and essentially ends their season. The NFC North Division is out of reach, and a tough home loss to a bitter rival only pours salt in the wound. With such a crushing loss, it’s easy to get upset at everything. But here’s why the Vikings really lost against the Bears.
McCarthy Might Be Finished
Quarterback J.J. McCarthy had another performance to forget. The problem is, Vikings fans won’t be able to forget it any time soon. Nor should they.
On 32 pass attempts, McCarthy completed just 16 of them for 150 yards and had his second straight game of throwing two awful interceptions, all despite taking no sacks. He had a clean pocket on most of his passes and just flat out missed several throws, sometimes in an embarrassing fashion. His interceptions were due to him forcing passes to Justin Jefferson too often and then trying to take a hero shot at a point in the game where the Vikings needed to play it safe and get easy points. His receivers dropped a few they should’ve had, but given the way the offense was sputtering with McCarthy holding the ball, they are far from the ones to blame for McCarthy’s poor play.
As a fan, this is the most frustrated I’ve been with watching a Vikings QB since checks notes Christian Ponder. Maybe it’s because McCarthy and Ponder’s situations feel similar. Both were top-15 draft picks and were meant to be the final pieces on Vikings’ rosters that could win it all. Instead, Ponder was a weak link, and it’s starting to seem like McCarthy might be the same. It’s hard to pin “bust” allegations on a guy who’s only played 5 NFL regular-season games, but I’m becoming very uneasy about McCarthy. Every time he dropped back to pass in this game, I felt anxious–I think the Vikings need to move on from McCarthy and kick “Nine” out the door with him.
Defense Couldn’t Get Going
Edge rusher Jonathan Greenard’s absence was noticeable in Week 11. The defense got dominated by Bears blocks and couldn’t sack Caleb Williams until late in the 4th quarter, allowing him to make a Houdini-like escape from surefire sacks several times. It was just another blow in their backbreaking loss.
Kick Coverage Errors Sealed the Loss
Right after the Vikings took the lead with just 50 seconds left in the game, the kick coverage team made a critical error, allowing Bears returner Devin Deuvernay to rip off a 56-yard kick return to the Vikings’ 40. The Bears hardly had to do any work to set up a game-winning field goal for kicker Cairo Santos, who banged the kick through the uprights. For a team that struggled all game and fought back for a late win, it was a final gut punch that could’ve put the nail in the coffin for the Vikings’ season.
Vikings’ Season May Be Over Early
The loss this week signals an end to the Vikings’ playoff hopes. They need a miracle run in which they win all their remaining games and other NFC teams lose several games to get a Wild Card spot. It’s time to think about hard offseason decisions, which include cleaning up a bleak cap space situation. The hype was fun while it lasted, Skol nation. We have to take our licks and walk off with our heads held high. Here’s to next season. May it be much more joyful than this mess.