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The Vikings have started 2-0 with both wins coming against division foes for the first time since 2003 and third time ever.

Minnesota's defense bowed up at the critical moments, denying Chicago points on all but one drive (the first of the game for the Bears) and held on for a 9-3 win in the lowest-scoring game in series history.

The Bears put together a 13-play drive that gained 51 yards before a string of penalties forced a punt.

An 11-play, 64-yarder to open the second half ended when Jalen Redmond forced a fumble recovered by Isaiah Rodgers at the Minnesota 1.

A 12-play, 62-yarder ended with Rodgers blocking a 23-yard field goal, and an eight-play drive covered 44 yards but ended at the Minnesota 12 on the game's final snap, which was hiked with one second remaining.

The offense leaned on getting points on the opening drive by taking an early chance — a 30-yard pass from Carson Wentz to Justin Jefferson that moved the receiver past Randy Moss for second on Minnesota's all-time catches leaderboard — and leaned on the reliability and ruggedness of Aaron Jones, Sr., who improved to 16-2 in 18 career games against the Bears.

Will Reichard was good on field goals of 35, 49 and 39 yards, despite some soggy socks and shoes.

What a great defensive battle this game was. The ending was just insane. So sorry to see Caleb Williams go down on that non-contact injury. I was just amazed at the fourth quarter blocked FG and subsequent drive — earning a rare fourth up!

Below are my four ups and three downs for the game:

UPS:

1. Vikings defense forcing Caleb to make a poor first quarter throw on third-and-long resulting in a Vikings interception. Nicely done!

2. Outstanding defensive play heading into the end of the half. We forced a punt and after our offense stalled and we punted, we stopped their final drive as well.

3. Redmond's punch-out fumble by the Vikings defense on the Bears 1-yard line.  Excellent play.

4. The fourth quarter blocked FG and, just as important, the almost game-sealing drive where we ran the ball and milked the clock. Only to have the defense save the day with no time on the clock. Wow.

DOWNS:

1. Third-and-2 for Vikings. Ends up with play clock running out and snap over Wentz's head. Unacceptable on both fronts.

2. At the end of the half we had to punt. Great punt and weak and ineffective punt coverage when it mattered most. We set the conditions for Caleb to tie the game or take the lead by allowing that return. Our punt coverage team should be thanking our defense for their second 2-minute stop.

3. Overall offensive production was too weak. But I will take that fourth quarter drive any time!

Looking forward to the Bucs already!

— Jeff Ludwig

I obviously never want any player to go through an injury, regardless of what team he plays for and wish Williams well in his recovery.

Injuries are part of the game, and the Vikings have gone through many over the years.

Prior to Williams' injury, it seemed like the Vikings designed and executed a great game plan that constrained a team that scored 59 points at Carolina in Week 1.

Having covered teams that have fallen victim to the "Peanut Punch" copyrighted by Charles Tillman, it was impressive to see Redmond's wallop with Tillman in attendance.

Rodgers grazed Cairo Santos' field goal at the end of Chicago's first possession and brought an even better one on his next try, keeping it a 6-3 game with 6:21 remaining.

There seemed to be a bit of disarray prior to the snap. Perhaps a timeout would have been in order. It was super critical that Wentz hustled to recover the ball.

Brett Thorson held for all three field goals and punted six times for 297 yards. His 62-yarder was returned 24 yards by Kalif Raymond, so it only netted 38, but Thorson did really well in his second pro game.

Ugly win, but a win is a win! 9–3, and that defense was lights out. Offense has a LOT to clean up — good thing we weren't facing an elite defense today. Aaron Jones carried the load, and our defense slammed the door. SKOL! 😈🔥

— Toby in Alaska (SKOL AK FAN)

We'll have more on the defense in a bit, but how about Jones?

The Vikings were without running back Jordan Mason, as well as receiver Jauan Jennings but stayed committed to the run game.

Jones shouldered 23 of the team's 28 rush attempts, going 12 for 52 yards in the first half and 11 for 53 in the second half.

He withstood needing to come off the field after a facemask issue and later lost his helmet during a big hit but remained undeterred.

Ugly wins count the same. And bad weather games can produce ugly wins. The numbers and stats don't tell much of a story in this game until you look at turnovers. And turnovers usually tell the win/loss story of most games. In this game. A 2-0 turnover differential in Chicago leads to a 2-0 record for Minnesota. The three phases of the Vikings team win bear (pun intended) analysis. I have been critical of the stated offensive philosophy to feature the run more. I've seen it fail too many times. So far, the balance I have seen in the offense gives me hope. The Flores defense remains a mystery for other teams to solve. And timely special teams play created all Vikings scores and prevented at least one for Chicago. What a FG block! Hated seeing the Caleb Williams injury. But would his presence have made a difference at the end? We won't ever know. We do know the Vikings lead the division, and Will Reichard remains reliable even on doinks.

— Jeff Kilty in California

Turnovers are quite often a deciding factor in the outcome of games.

Kevin O'Connell improved to 37-4 when the Vikings are even or better in the turnover differential stat.

Ball control and minimizing the damage when there was a miscue (the wayward snap) were super important to Minnesota's success in those conditions.

Wow, does it feel good to be (not just) 2-0, but 2-0 in the division to start the season. While I don't think anyone would call these wins pretty, they have been gritty!

Respect to the run game this week. We finally saw ourselves running the ball to where we had numerous third-and-less-than-5 situations, something this team has struggled to achieve the past couple seasons. The question mark came as we had similar results converting those third downs as we've had with third-and-long. Credit to the defenses of course, but third-down conversions still seem like a difficult task for our team compared to others.

Dallas Turner is the real deal and starting to show out in ways reminiscent of Danielle Hunter! Isaiah Rodgers another huge performance. Great effort by that defense to control the game and confound the offense.

Any chance for the fans health we can eliminate the game terror of giving up big drives to the opponent in the last minute of each half?

— Mike in Arden Hills

Vikings games can really impact the heartbeat.

The third-down percentage (Minnesota went 3-for-13) definitely has room for improvement, but there were some clutch plays at different points of the game.

Turner's power on the game-sealing sack was impressive.

The play calls and philosophy changes at the end of halves, but that also is the one spot where the defense could have tried to close the door a little earlier. Ideally the offense would have gotten one more first down to finish in victory.

But, I guess will take another highlight going on Turner's resume tape.

Sunday looked like another dominant defensive effort by the Vikings! The Bears never looked comfortable in that game, and Flores clearly won that chess match with Ben Johnson. Which makes me wonder: what would have happened if Brian Flores was coaching the Vikings defense in the 1970s instead of today? Can you imagine if he had masterminded the Purple People Eaters? Is it possible that they would have been even better? I'm not sure that any of the offenses of the '70s would have had an answer for his defensive schemes. What do you think?

SKOL!

— Mike D. in Twinsburg, Ohio

I feel like the folks who have been Vikings fans since the Purple People Eaters enjoyed the "throwback" nature of a game in the elements.

There were certainly characteristics of games I've read about when researching the 1970s squads.

The game-planning has gotten so elaborate on both sides of the ball. It would have been interesting to pair Flores' talent with the likes of Jim Marshall, Alan Page, Carl Eller, Gary Larsen and Doug Sutherland, whose talent helped shape elite defenses.

Holy smokes.

Two weeks of football, and our defense is this smothering? Two TOs today … Oofta. And what about Jalen Redmond and Dallas Turner!? And I must credit Isaiah Rodgers for the blocked FG. Now we just need Hitman to get a piece of the INT pie and get his 40^th for the 40/20 club.

Aaron Jones — he's a dog.

I also think it's safe to say Kyler Murray, if healthy, will start Week 3, but would be remiss if I didn't ask what you thought. Carson Wentz looked good on the first drive, just barely missing Justin Jefferson in the end zone, and I'll give credit where it's due — he made some nice throws in the fourth. And let's give the Bears defense some credit too. But I think Wentz isn't the man going forward.

Every game there are always holes and mistakes to fix and mend, but our 2-minute defense is absolutely ATROCIOUS. Especially to a backup QB; that cannot happen. This team cannot keep relying on the defense to win games, and as fans, our cardiovascular health cannot take it, either.

— Ben in St. Peter

Smith tied Eller for the fourth most games played in Vikings history at 209. His role was interesting and a little different, but his controlled rushes of Williams were another way the Vikings vexed the Bears signal caller.

Wentz battled through some ups and downs but delivered some big-time throws to lead Minnesota's final scoring drive. He barely missed on a throw to the end zone to Jefferson early.

The Bears were doing a good job of managing field position (as were the Vikings), so the most important thing was possession of the football and flipping field position as often as possible to make Chicago run as many plays as possible to try to reach the end zone.

Hi Chaps,

After last week's somewhat surprising fourth quarter domination, it was a nervous time walking into game 2, against a free-scoring Bears team. To type this with a 2-0 record against two division rivals is almost a pinch-me moment.

Yes, we lost Kyler early and have lost Jordan Mason to IR, but we seem to have that one thing every team needs, a slice of luck.

Tight game, fumble on the 1. Tight game, blocked FG to tie. Tight game, Caleb pulls up injured when he may have gone all the way (get well soon Caleb). Even Will kissed a post, and it still made it.

It's two games and nothing more but great to see a few calls going our way for once.

Go Vikes!

Skol!

— Ian, The Southport Viking in Southport, UK

Being able to emerge from a home game against Green Bay and a road contest with Chicago (Minnesota's seventh consecutive win there, by the way) is quite the way to start the season.

It only means the most, however, if Minnesota continues to apply itself in games going forward.

We'll get an update on Murray this week. The early indication is Mason's injury won't keep him out much longer than what's required before he can return.

Well, they just can't take it easy on us fans. The defense was phenomenal, they got gashed on the ground at times, but overall, their coverage was much better than week 1. They still can't seem to figure out how to get Caleb Williams on the ground. They were so close to so many sacks.

The offense was hard to watch. The Bears defense isn't that good. Our offense was just that bad. Very safe and soft play calling. They should've attacked Chicago's aggressiveness. Wentz wasn't impressive — he missed a lot of open throws again. And he can't move; he's a sitting duck under pressure. Jones ran very well to control the clock. I'm not sold on Murray, but he's agile and can beat a defense that way. He has to stop throwing up punts like he did with his first throw last week.

It was great to see Caleb Banks in the backfield often, Big Citrus (Domonique Orange) is going to be a great run stuffer, and Jalen Redmond is incredible. Dallas Turner is becoming a force. He will be a problem for everyone we face.

— Roman B, Elated to be 2-0 in Grand Forks, North Dakota

Williams' ability to avoid what appear to be surefire sacks is elite, but Minnesota stayed disciplined and maintained rush lane integrity.

Banks' presence was noticeable at multiple times, showing elements of what Minnesota saw in him when selecting him in the first round this season. I'm looking forward to watching he and Orange continue to develop with a really strong position group.

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