Bears Report Card: How we graded Chicago in Week 12 loss to Vikings

The Chicago Bears (4-7) lost their fifth straight game on Sunday with a 30-27 overtime defeat to the Minnesota Vikings (9-2).

With the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers also winning this weekend, the Bears are the only NFC North team on the outside looking in as all three are primed for playoff berths. In this loss to the Vikings, the Bears at least made it interesting by scoring 11 points in the final two minutes and forcing overtime. But they were just unable to close out a game that they had a chance to win once again.

With that in mind, here's how we graded the offense, defense, special teams, and coaching staff in this Week 12 loss to Minnesota.

Offense: A

The Bears offense has taken a lot of heat this season. However, after two weeks of Thomas Brown running the show in place of Shane Waldron, they have looked much better. It honestly makes you wonder how Waldron got the job in the first place. He has to be the worst developmental guy of all time.

Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was brilliant. He had a 68% completion rate along with 340 passing yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. To do that against a dominant Brian Flores defense is impressive no matter how you slice it. Williams spread the ball all over the field, too. DJ Moore led the team with 106 yards while Keenan Allen had the most receptions (9). They each had a touchdown, as well. Tight end Cole Kmet, receiver Rome Odunze, and running back D’Andre Swift all did their part in support.

If anything, this game proves that Williams is going to be a star. Now that the play calling isn’t completely holding him back, we’re seeing some big-time strides. This A-grade was well deserved. If the offense continues to move the ball the way they did against the Vikings, the Bears will continue to show progress on that side of the ball.

Defense: C

The Bears defense was one of the best units not only on the team but the league early on. In recent weeks, they haven’t been bad, but they haven’t been the elite unit that we’ve become used to seeing. They get a C in this one because they allowed 30 points, 452 yards and gave up multiple third-and-long situations. But it isn’t all on them. There were multiple instances where they were put in a bad position because of other units on the team making mistakes.

The entire loss is certainly not on them but they can’t get higher than a C because they didn’t go above and beyond like they have in the past. There is also a concern with their pass rush as they aren’t making life hard on opposing quarterbacks at all. There is no good run defense either, which is making it difficult to keep points off the board.

Special Teams: C

Special teams were close to getting an F. DeAndre Carter's punt return blunder, where the ball bounced off him and the Vikings were prime to recover, led to a Vikings touchdown while Cairo Santos had another field goal blocked in the exact same way it was against the Packers. Once again, special teams cost them a win.

On the punt return blunder, Carter waved off all his teammates from the ball and it ended up hitting him instead. Five plays later, the Vikings were in the end zone again. The Vikings also went to school on how the Packers blocked the game-winning field goal in Eeek 11. Of course, the Bears weren’t smart enough to change their protection scheme which has an issue on the left side with Santos’ low trajectory. Special teams did redeem themselves a little bit late. They became the first team in the NFL to recover an onside kick in 2024. That means they will be the first team in history to recover one with the new rules in place where you have to declare an onside before the play. It was an impressive way to set up the offense for a potential game-tying field goal.

After Williams got them in range, Santos connected on the game-tying kick, but it was almost blocked in the same spot again. It wasn’t though so they get credit for getting the game tied late although they should have never been in that position. They get a C instead of an F for how they rallied in the fourth quarter. They also can’t get anything higher than a C because of how bad the operations were early in the game.

Coaching: F

It will be hard for coaching to get anything other than an F for the rest of the season with the way that things are right now -- and ti has nothing to do with Thomas Brown, who gets an A in his own right. Matt Eberflus is in over his head and it shows every week. It was on display even more going up against Kevin O’Connell who has the Vikings on the move. There were no adjustments made to fix the field goal block situation, the clock management situation was horrible again, he lost another coach's challenge, and the team didn’t know the play in key situations at times.

If the Bears get blown out by the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving and they don’t fire Eberflus, they will never actually fire a coach in the middle of the season. That is the perfect time to do it, so if they don’t, it won’t happen. The players get some of the blame for the five-game losing streak, but a lot of it falls on the coaching staff. They get an F once again.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears Report Card: How we graded Chicago in Week 12 loss to Vikings