Winners and Losers of Week 15 vs the Bears

The Vikings won 17-9 in a game against the Chicago Bears that was just about the most boring game of this season. These lists are in no particular order as well just listed.

5 Winners of Thursdays game

1. D.J.Wonnum:

D.J. Wonnum has been an interesting developmental player for the Vikings since being drafted in 2020. Wonnum kind of just got thrown into the fire with the back-to-back season-ending injuries to Danielle Hunter, Yannick Ngakoue being traded, and Everson Griffen missing time due to personal reasons. Monday Night the Vikings got a glimpse of the potential future they have in D.J. Wonnum who racked up 3 sacks, 9 pressures, and 2 TFL's.

2. Sheldon Richardson:

Sheldon Richardson has been an unsung hero of this rejuvenated Vikings Defensive Line. Richardson racked up 3 tackles, 1 TFL, and 1 FF that he also recovered on Monday Night. He also is one of 16 NFL players that have recorded at least 18 pressures over the last 5 weeks according to PFF.

3. Patrick Peterson:

Patrick Peterson has had a very frustrating season with injuries but when he is on the field he is a difference-maker. Peterson played a solid game and came up clutch when it mattered most with back-to-back pass deflections in the red zone of the 4th quarter.

4. Michael Pierce:

Pierce has proven to be a dominant force in the middle when he is healthy for the Vikings. That is exactly what he was on Monday Night where he had 3 tackles, 1 TFL, and 4 pressures. Pierce is only behind Aaron Donald and Chris Jones in PFF pass-rushing grades over the last 3 weeks.

5. OLine Sorta:

The Offensive Line did not look good to the casual fan due to...Akiem Hicks, but aside from Mason Cole and Bradbury the OLine was not all too bad. Ezra Cleveland and Christian Darrisaw led the offense in PFF grades with 88.58 for Ezra and 81.3 for Darrisaw. As well as O'Neill with a 67.5 PFF grade ranking 4th on the offense. As for Mason Cole, he was dead last at a 40.5 and Garrett Bradbury with the 3rd worst at a 48.9 grade. Only 9 total pressures were allowed, with 6 coming from Mason Cole who just had a rough night matched up with an ELITE force in the middle.

Losers of Thursdays game

1. Mike Zimmer:

I give credit to Mike Zimmer for being able to rally the Vikings Defense back to a pretty dominant state upfront on the Defensive Line at least, but he needs to figure out the whole team at once. There was absolutely no reason to abandon the pass in the second half and play conservatively when the Bears were starting practice squad players. I do not understand Zimmer's philosophy and do not know if I ever will.

2. Kirk Cousins:

Not the prettiest game I have seen Kirk Cousins play in purple, but I wasn't expecting much from on a primetime MNF game in Chicago. Kirk did not have much help from play calling, but also did not do much to help himself. I would like to see Kirk try and move around a little more in the pocket especially when he realizes our Offensive Line isn't having the best pass-blocking game.

3. Klint Kubiak:

I am not sure if Mike Zimmer just has Klint Kubiak under his control or what but something has to change. These repetitive runs up the middle straight into Akiem Hicks need to stop, especially playing against Aaron Donald who is significantly better. We need to do more mixing up of the runs and passes because the play-calling is extremely predictable for opposing teams.