Bears @ Vikings · Week 15

WEEK 15 · FINAL

THE READ

Bears run away with it, 27-6

Bears were never troubled, putting Vikings away 27-6. Caleb Williams was steady for Bears — 25/34, 293 yards, 2 TD. JJ McCarthy was steady for Vikings — 24/38, 282 yards, 1 INT — in a losing effort. Make it 3 consecutive games past 250 for Caleb Williams. Total yards: Bears 418, Vikings 314.

Nicole Santos Beat reporter

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Bears	+1.1	+2.1	-1.1	-7
Vikings	-3.3	+4.1	-7.4	-13

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Bears — NFC #5 · 10-4 Playoff picture →

In the MVP race

#8 Zavion Thomas WR · Bears · 0.5% of the field

The whole board →

IN THE BOOTH

Jordan Hayes The armchair coach

Chicago's ground game was the difference—125 yards to Minnesota's 32—and the Vikings' refusal to establish any run threat left them one-dimensional and helpless against a defense that could tee off on the pass all afternoon.

Jeff Epstein The showman · replying

Zavion Thomas is now the throughline of Chicago's offense—3 straight games over 100 receiving yards means he's become the one thing Minnesota's secondary had to stop, and didn't.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Caleb Williams

Bears

25/34, 293 yards, 2 TD

JJ McCarthy

Vikings

24/38, 282 yards, 1 INT

Zavion Thomas

Bears

9 catches, 110 yards, 1 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

🔥 Caleb Williams has now cleared 250 passing yards in 3 straight games.

🔥 Zavion Thomas has now cleared 100 receiving yards in 3 straight games.

⭐ D'Andre Swift has not had a better afternoon this season.

📈 Demond Claiborne is in form: 54 rushing yards a game over his last three, against a season average of 33.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Total yards Bears 418, Vikings 314 Bears

On the ground Bears 125, Vikings 32 Bears

Through the air Bears 293, Vikings 282 Bears

Giveaways Vikings 2, Bears 0 Bears

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 15 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Pass-heavy Pass 62% · Rush 38% · 33.9 scored, 35.0 allowed

9.1 yds/att 65.3% completions 4.9 yds/carry 434.9 yds/game 1.8 giveaways/game 8.2% sack rate last 5: 3-2

Primary weapon: Zavion Thomas WR — 33% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY HIGH

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 71 · Aggressive Balance 88 Ball security 50 Back usage 29% QB runs 5.6/game

Most exposed: pressure -- sacked on 8.2% of dropbacks

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 99 WR 88 TE 92 RB 87 OL 81 DL 85 LB 82 DB 87

Best: Caleb Williams QB 99 Fastest: Zavion Thomas WR 96 SPD 6 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

24kbannd

Bears · his last 8 games

Balanced Runs the quarterback

Pass / run60% / 40% Points for / against31.8 — 36.2 Margin-4.5 Giveaways a game1.8 Sacks taken7.5% of dropbacks Lead backZach Charbonnet · 13.1/g Top targetZavion Thomas · 32% QB carries5.4 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Bears receivers vs Vikings secondary 88 v 85 BEARS

Vikings receivers vs Bears secondary 94 v 87 VIKINGS

Bears line vs Vikings front 81 v 87 VIKINGS

Vikings line vs Bears front 87 v 85 EVEN

Bears backs vs Vikings run defence 87 v 86 EVEN

Vikings backs vs Bears run defence 82 v 85 BEARS

Bears passer vs Vikings secondary 99 v 85 BEARS

Vikings passer vs Bears secondary 93 v 87 VIKINGS

TOP PERFORMERS

Caleb Williams QB Bears 293 pass yds

JJ McCarthy QB Vikings 282 pass yds

Zavion Thomas WR Bears 110 rec yds

Rome Odunze WR Bears 90 rec yds

Justin Jefferson WR Vikings 84 rec yds

Colston Loveland TE Bears 79 rec yds

Nyck Harbor WR Vikings 73 rec yds

Michael Mayer TE Vikings 60 rec yds

Devin Bush MIKE Bears 1 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

BEARS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Caleb Williams QB	25/34	293	2	0	1	28	118.8

VIKINGS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
JJ McCarthy QB	24/38	282	0	1	1	30	74.6

BEARS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG
D'Andre Swift HB	8	43	5.4	0	4	32	25
Caleb Williams QB	6	42	7	0	0	0	8
Zach Charbonnet HB	13	23	1.8	0	0	0	6
Kyle Monangai HB	2	10	5	0	1	5	7
Luther Burden III WR	1	6	6	0	0	0	6
Cole Kmet TE	1	1	1	1	0	0	1
Colston Loveland TE	0	0	0	0	2	0	0

VIKINGS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	BTK	LNG	FUM
Demond Claiborne HB	10	23	2.3	0	6	0
Jordan Mason HB	4	9	2.2	0	4	0
Nyck Harbor WR	1	2	2	0	2	0
Luke Musgrave TE	0	0	0	1	0	0
Michael Mayer TE	0	0	0	0	0	1
Justin Jefferson WR	0	0	0	2	0	0
JJ McCarthy QB	3	0	0	0	3	0
Max Bredeson FB	1	-2	-2	0	0	0

BEARS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Zavion Thomas WR	9	110	12.2	1	16	28
Rome Odunze WR	7	90	12.9	1	16	26
Colston Loveland TE	7	79	11.3	0	24	14
D'Andre Swift HB	1	7	7	0	3	7
Luther Burden III WR	1	7	7	0	0	7

VIKINGS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	YAC	LNG
Justin Jefferson WR	5	84	16.8	24	27
Nyck Harbor WR	4	73	18.2	17	30
Michael Mayer TE	6	60	10	17	25
Jordan Dwyer WR	1	25	25	2	25
Demond Claiborne HB	4	24	6	6	14
Luke Musgrave TE	2	10	5	5	7
Jordan Addison WR	2	6	3	0	3

BEARS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	FF	CMP ALW
Isaiah Bolden CB	7	0	0	0	0	4
Dillon Thieneman FS	5	0	0	0	0	3
Devin Bush MIKE	5	0	1	0	1	1
Ashton Hampton CB	4	0	0	0	0	2
Suntarine Perkins REDG	4	0	0	0	0	0
Matayo Uigalelei DT	3	1	0	0	0	0
Jordan Battle SS	3	0	0	0	0	2
Johnathan Edwards CB	3	0	0	0	0	4
Kyler Gordon SS	3	0	0	2	0	3
Shemar Turner DT	2	0	0	0	0	0
T.J. Edwards WILL	2	0	0	0	0	1
Barryn Sorrell REDG	1	0	0	0	0	0
E.J. Speed SAM	1	0	0	0	0	2

VIKINGS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	PD	CMP ALW
Jake Golday MIKE	8	0	1	8
Isaiah Rodgers Sr CB	6	0	0	3
Dallas Turner REDG	5	0	0	1
Josh Metellus SS	4	0	0	3
Byron Murphy Jr CB	3	0	0	2
Domonique Orange DT	3	0	0	0
Teitum Tuioti LEDG	3	1	0	0
Jakobe Thomas SS	3	0	0	2
Nahshon Wright FS	3	0	0	4
Jalen Redmond DT	3	0	0	0
Andrew Van Ginkel REDG	2	0	0	0
Caleb Banks DT	2	0	0	0
Jyaire Hill CB	2	0	0	2
Christian Izien SS	1	0	0	0
Ivan Pace Jr WILL	1	0	0	0

BEARS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Cairo Santos K	2/2	3/3	44

VIKINGS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Will Reichard K	2/2	0/0	42

RECENT FORM

Bears

L 34–74 vs Raiders WK 14

L 14–69 vs Lions WK 12

W 30–27 vs Broncos WK 11

Vikings

L 3–21 vs Packers WK 14

W 46–39 vs Chargers WK 13

L 23–30 vs Cardinals WK 12

TEAM STATS

Bears		Vikings
418	TOTAL YARDS	314
293	PASSING YARDS	282
125	RUSHING YARDS	32
1	SACKS ALLOWED	1
1	SACKS MADE	1
0	GIVEAWAYS	2
2	TAKEAWAYS	0

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

1 BEARS — 1 VIKINGS

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