The Buccaneers made pretty easy work of the Vikings, but there were some areas where Minnesota was pretty good.
However, the Vikings played too poor in certain phases to stay in the game. It doesn’t matter if the defensive back group has improved when the defense can’t make a pass rush.
That’s exactly what happened on Sunday. Tom Brady was sacked zero times. Brady was only pressured three times, according to Eric Eager of Pro Football Focus.
Arguably the best quarterback in NFL history could step up into a pretty clean pocked and deliver throws. He wasn’t perfect, but he did enough and the Vikings’ lack of pressure certainly helped him out.
This week, the Minnesota pass rush is playing a team it already had success against: Chicago. In Week 15, the Vikings get the second divisional matchup of the season with the Bears.
In their Monday night game against the Bears this season, the Vikings defense got two sacks and 12 quarterback hits. Minnesota got to Nick Foles as evidenced by the lack of offensive success from the Bears.
This game will be different in that Chicago has a new quarterback, barring anything unexpected. The Bears have switched to Mitch Trubisky, who is chaotic but on a hot streak recently. Trubisky is also a mobile quarterback, which makes brining him down probably a littler harder to do than with Foles.
The Vikings can potentially keep their season alive on Sunday, but they have to stifle the Bears. It starts with getting pressure and forcing Trubisky to make mistakes. If they don’t do that, Chicago could pull off the win at U.S. Bank. And playoff hopes could be put on hold until 2021.