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3. Improbable comeback snaps Soldier Field losing streak (22 points)
Vikings 23, Bears 20 | Nov. 1, 2015 | Soldier Field
The Vikings had lost seven consecutive games on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan, including seasons when they had a better team (2009) and the previous year when a clock malfunction certain didn’t help a comeback attempt in a 21-13 loss.
It looked like Chicago would make it eight in a row against Minnesota after pesky Jay Cutler rushed for a 4-yard touchdown to put the Bears up 20-13 with 4:55 remaining.
Rookie Stefon Diggs and second-year pro Teddy Bridgewater, however, proved otherwise.
Diggs caught a short toss and turned it into a 40-yard touchdown to tie the game with 1:49 remaining. The play capped an 84-yard drive that Bridgewater helped extend with a 19-yard scramble on a second-and-17.
After Minnesota forced a quick three-and-punt, the Vikings got the ball back at their own 34-yard line with 1:00 left on the clock.
Bridgewater again connected with Diggs on a 4-yard pass before finding Charles Johnson for a 35-yard gain to the Chicago 27. Minnesota took its first timeout before Adrian Peterson gained 9 on the ground. The Vikings then let the clock run down to 0:04 before Blair Walsh made a walk-off, 36-yard field goal.
Diggs led Minnesota with six catches for 95 yards and his second career touchdown. Peterson totaled 103 yards on 20 carries.
Walsh also kicked field goals of 43 and 48 yards on a day when Marcus Sherels put the Vikings on the board with a 65-yard punt return touchdown in the first quarter.
The win was Minnesota’s third in a five-game streak. The Vikings improved to 5-2 en route to finishing the season 11-5 and winning the NFC North, the first division title under Head Coach Mike Zimmer.
4. Peterson shreds Bears defense; Longwell kicks winner (20 points)
Vikings 34, Bears 31 | Oct. 14, 2007 | Soldier Field
Appropriately named Ryan Longwell provided the decisive score with a 55-yard field goal as time expired.
Longwell’s kick was enabled by a 53-yard kickoff return by Peterson, who put the NFL on notice in his fifth career game.
The return gave Minnesota the ball at the Chicago 38 with 1:30 remaining and reversed momentum that the Bears had seized with a pair of touchdown passes by Brian Griese less than a minute apart (33 yards to Muhsin Muhammad and 81 yards to Devin Hester).
Peterson totaled 128 yards on four kickoff returns, but his performance on offense — 224 rushing yards and touchdown runs of 67, 73, and 35 — was what really raised eyebrows from coast to coast.
The first score tied the game at 14, the second gave Minnesota a 21-14 edge, and the third put the Vikings up 31-17 with just 4:10 left on the clock.
The 33-yarder to Muhammad was the shortest touchdown of the day.
Chicago’s Devin Hester opened the scoring with an 89-yard punt return, but Minnesota’s Troy Williamson tied the game with a 60-yard scoring pass from Tarvaris Jackson at the end of the first quarter.
Bears — and future Vikings — receiver Bernard Berrian followed with a 39-yard touchdown catch.
Peterson broke loose inside the final three minutes of the second and third quarters, helping the Vikings outrush the Bears 311 to 83. Several defenders, including all three linebackers, were back for a Chicago defense that had played in Super Bowl XLI the previous season, but it didn’t matter to Peterson or Chester Taylor, who added 83 yards on 22 rushes.
It was the fifth time for a Bears defense to ever allow 300 or more rushing yards in a game and first since Denver totaled 356 in 1976. Chicago hasn’t come close to allowing an opponent to rush for 300 yards since. Side note: the 1965 Vikings rushed for 304 against the Bears in Week 5 but lost 45-37.
Ben Leber led the Vikings defense with an interception and sack, and Dwight Smith also picked off a pass.