Vikings Thump McMahon, Bears, 31-7, but Are Careful Not to Rub It In

There could be a changing of the guard in the NFC Central Division, but the Minnesota Vikings are going to let sleeping Bears lie.

The Vikings were noticeably subdued Sunday after scoring a 31-7 victory over the Chicago Bears for their first victory at Soldier Field since 1983.

“We didn’t beat their butts off,” Minnesota Coach Jerry Burns said. “Some things went favorably for us. It is only one of 16 games we have to play.

“Tommy (Kramer) played well, the defense played well. Both (Minnesota) lines played real well. Tommy had time to look around the field and on defense we put some pressure on their cornerbacks.

“The Bears are much stronger than they showed today.”

Kramer completed 15 of 28 passes for 258 yards and threw touchdown passes of 40 and 16 yards to Anthony Carter and also hit Hassan Jones with a 19-yarder.

“It feels great to beat a team like the Chicago Bears,” Kramer said. “I got great protection and there were some great catches out there.

“It’s a great confidence builder.”

The Vikings played without starting running backs, Darrin Nelson (back injury) and D.J. Dozier (hip injury).

That left it up to Kramer.

“We figured we probably would have a tough time running the ball so we came out passing,” Kramer said. “We took advantage of their man coverage. With the kind of protection I got today, it makes it easy to find your wide receivers.”

The Bears, who averaged 208 yards rushing in their first 2 victories, were held to 70 yards.

Bears Coach Mike Ditka was unusually abrupt in his postgame meeting with reporters and refused to take any questions after making a statement on the game.

“You have a right to criticize,” Ditka said. “We played poorly on offense, defense and the special teams. We didn’t reach any of the goals we had set. A good team outplayed us.”

Ditka said he took quarterback Jim McMahon out of the game late in the first half to protect him from further injury.

McMahon suffered a bruised knee in the first quarter.

“We didn’t think it was worth risking Jim anymore,” Ditka said. “With the pass protection we had, I didn’t think Jim could help us. He wasn’t protected even on three-steps back.”

McMahon lost for just the second time in the last 32 games he started at quarterback for the Bears, who lost defensive end William (The Refrigerator) Perry indefinitely with a broken arm on the next-to-last play of the game.

McMahon passed for a touchdown but fumbled once and was intercepted once before leaving in the closing seconds of the first half. He completed 9 of 15 passes for 116 yards and hit Ron Morris with an 11-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter to lift the Bears (2-1) into a 7-7 tie before the Vikings (2-1) took complete charge of the game.

McMahon’s fumble set up Kramer’s touchdown pass to Jones to give the Vikings a 14-7 lead. Chuck Nelson’s 37-yard field goal made it 17-7 at halftime.

The Bears fumbled twice and had three passes intercepted. One of the fumbles was by Dennis McKinnon on a punt that Chris Martin recovered in the end zone early in the third quarter to give the Vikings a 24-7 lead.