Vikings’ Poor Effort Breaks Down to a Loss

All season, the Chicago Bears have found ways to lose. On Monday night, they watched the Minnesota Vikings do the same.

After losing Robert Smith and Warren Moon, the Vikings lost the game, 15-13. Walt Harris blocked a field-goal attempt with 3:47 to play, and Bryan Cox forced and recovered a fumble two minutes later as the Bears held on to defeat slumping Minnesota.

It was only the second victory for the Bears (3-5) since a season-opening win over the Dallas Cowboys.

“I don’t know how we stack up against other teams in the league, but I do know that there’s not any team in the league that plays harder than this group,” Chicago Coach Dave Wannstedt said. “This football team deserved to win this game.”

The battered Bears, who got a boost from the return of several injured players, built a 15-3 halftime lead behind Dave Krieg’s passing and their first rushing touchdown of the season, a one-yard dive by Rashaan Salaam. They held the Vikings (5-3) to a franchise-worst 11 rushing yards, and they watched the Vikings lose for the third time in four games.

Minnesota was penalized 12 times for 75 yards, had two kicks blocked, gave up five sacks and committed two turnovers, both of which proved costly.

The first, Mark Carrier’s diving interception of a Moon pass with 23 seconds left in the first half, led to the second of Jeff Jaeger’s two field goals.

The last, Cox’s fumble recovery, ended Minnesota’s last chance.

It was a costly loss for the Vikings because of the injuries and their second-half schedule, which includes Kansas City and Denver at home and Oakland, Detroit and Green Bay on the road.

The Vikings lost Smith, the NFC’s second-leading rusher, late in the first quarter because of an injured left knee.

After Moon rallied the Vikings with 10 third-quarter points, he re-injured his right ankle when he was hit by Jim Flanigan while throwing an incompletion.

Brad Johnson, who led the Vikings to a comeback victory in the season-opener after Moon was hurt, came in to loud cheers with 11:58 left in the game and twice led Minnesota into scoring range.

But Harris charged through virtually untouched to block Scott Sisson’s 48-yard field goal attempt.