(670 The Score) Friends, our watch has ended. After 18 mostly painful afternoons spent watching the Chicago Bears put up a 6-11 record, we’ve finally reached the end. It’s like when you’re done working out and instead of feeling relieved or accomplished, you just feel awful and in pain and exhausted. The 2021 Bears: worse than exercise. Here are some grades from a thoroughly uninteresting season finale as the Bears lost 31-17 to the Vikings on Sunday in Minneapolis.
Offense: D+
The most notable moment came when Darnell Mooney (12 catches, 126 yards) hit 1,000 receiving yards for the season, which feels pretty impressive – even with the new 17th game – considering the offense he plays in. Otherwise, it was a pretty standard day from the Matt Nagy offense. Andy Dalton (33-of-48 for 325 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions) looked fine making all the easy throws and looked like, well, Andy Dalton making most of the other ones. His first-half touchdown pass to Damien Williams was fine. Getting sacked on back-to-back fourth-down attempts would've probably elicited some negative emotions if anyone could feel anything at this point. I’m just kidding – I’m sure there were negative emotions during his third fourth-and-1 sack, that time from Minnesota’s 1-yard line. Don’t forget about the shot of David Montgomery (20 rushes for 72 yards and three fourth-down snubs) shaking his head after one of those failed attempts! And that somehow it wasn’t the first time that TV cameras have picked up someone on the Bears’ sideline openly complaining about the offense! Cole Kmet’s supposedly encouraging season ended with a four-catch, 48-yard performance – he finished with zero (0) touchdowns for the season. He has two in 32 career games. And believe it or not, but rookie Teven Jenkins didn't immediately make the Bears’ offensive line world-beaters. The Vikings had seven sacks split among four players Sunday. And now we rest.
Defense: D-
The Bears are in a bad spot, but at least they’re not paying Kirk Cousins to be there. With that being said, it’s hard to think there’s a single quarterback who can't thrive in Minnesota when the plan is simply “chuck it up to Justin Jefferson and assume someone in the Bears’ secondary is going to mess up.” Gotta hand it to Mike Zimmer and the Vikings coaching staff up there – it works pretty well! Here are some names of Bears players who played fine, I guess: Angelo Blackson, Roquan Smith, Bilal Nichols and Robert Quinn. Minnesota had two receivers go for more than 100 receiving yards – but just barely – on the day, and even that feels like it could've gone *way* worse if the Vikings, you know, really cared anymore. The Bears kept Dalvin Cook under 100 yards, so that’s good? The touchdown that Jefferson scored on Eddie Jackson in the second half was maybe the most Week 18 effort in all of Week 18’s games, and that’s including Joe Judge using second and third down to get his Giants in better field position for a punt. There really isn't a whole lot of good things to say – the Vikings scored touchdowns on half of the possessions they had in the second half. And now we rest.
Special teams: A, of course
The Bears might have A Guy in rookie Dazz Newsome. Not only was Newsome impressive in his role as a returner (four punt returns for an 11.7-yard average), but he made a hell of a tackle on kickoff coverage late in the first half. Other highlights included Cairo Santos kicking several mid-range field goals for no reason whatsoever and Pat O’Donnell landing one last punt inside the 20. And now we rest.
Cam Ellis is a writer for 670 The Score and Audacy Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KingsleyEllis.