Not a Season of Giving for Vikings

After nearly 57 minutes of Sunday’s game, the Minnesota Vikings looked the way they have so many times before: like a good team about to give away what should have been an easy victory.

For the final three minutes, the Vikings proved why they believe they’re different this season.

Minnesota wasted its biggest first half in nearly two years, then rallied with a last-minute touchdown to defeat the struggling Chicago Bears, 29-22.

“This is what champions are made of,” Viking quarterback Brad Johnson said.

Leroy Hoard’s one-yard touchdown run with 54 seconds left was difference for the Vikings (8-2), who won their sixth in a row--their longest streak since starting 10-0 in 1975--and stayed tied with Green Bay atop the NFC Central.

Before this season, the Vikings had gained a reputation of collapsing against inferior opponents.

Last year, their first two losses came against winless teams and in 1994, three of their six losses came against teams with a combined 3-20 record.

“The confidence is there now,” safety Orlando Thomas said. “The faith, the confidence and everything we need is there. That’s why we won. The unity and the confidence and the belief that we have in each other.”

For the Bears (1-9), it was the second time in four games they have come up short against a division leader. They lost to Green Bay, 24-23, when a late two-point conversion failed, and this time they couldn’t hold a late 22-21 lead.

David Palmer scored two first-half touchdowns for the Vikings, on an eight-yard run and a seven-yard catch. Those were the first non-special teams touchdowns of his four-year career.

Palmer also set up Charles Evans’ one-yard touchdown run with a 62-yard punt return.

That helped the Vikings take a 21-10 halftime lead, their highest-scoring first half since scoring 24 at Cincinnati on Dec. 24, 1995. The Vikings blew that lead, losing 27-24, and when Jeff Jaeger made his third field goal--a 36-yarder with 3:33 left--it looked as if they were going to blow it again.

Johnson started the winning drive with a 16-yard completion to tight end Andrew Glover. A 16-yard pass-interference penalty against Walt Harris gave the Vikings a first and goal at the 10.

Evans followed with a nine-yard run and Hoard went off-tackle untouched for the winning touchdown on the next play.

The Bears had won their last three games at the Metrodome.

“Everybody just said we’ve got to have it, this is it,” said Evans, who had a career-high 50 yards rushing. “We’re not going to let the Bears beat us in our dome again.”