Category: Vikings

October 9, 2017

Soldier Field – Chicago, Illinois

My Friend Trevor

 

Pregame Thoughts

Prediction: Vikings win by 3

 

Results

Final Score: Vikings 20, Bears 17

My Record: 4-4

 

A fantastic prediction! I did think the score would be lower and the first half was proving that to be true, but it was a great game and I saw it coming. I hope I predict more like these!

 

The Game

It was Mitch Trubisky’s NFL debut and he had a chance to win it. Overall, he played pretty good, a bad decision on their final drive cost a chance at a game winning field goal and instead gave the Vikings the lead. He threw an interception on the first play of that drive with only 2:32 left and all the Vikings had to do was sit on the ball and kick the game winning field goal. The Bears had two great plays, a fake punt for a touchdown and a fabulous two-point conversion (more below).

 

Give credit to the Vikings too, I mean they did win the game after all. The game was 3-2 at half and was an awful performance from Sam Bradford (only 36 yards passing), so he was replaced. The Vikings offense in the second half looked like a new team. Case Keenum had 140 passing yards, 1 touchdown and 22 yards rushing. It was a great game overall.

 

The Stadium

Overall Rating: D-

 

This might deserve an F, but as you read this it was just my personal experience. I won’t let my experience completely ruin the stadiums rankings.

 

The concessions were unprepared, like badly. At halftime a few of the concession stands didn’t have their credit cards working. Then the ATM wasn’t working. We found a concession stand that was open and they were out of cups, hotdogs were a 15 minute wait and pretzels were a 10 minute wait; I am not even sure why they were open. When we finally got to a stand that had food and drinks we could purchase the cashier said, “really this is nothing, once we didn’t have any ice or water and it was 100 degrees, people were passing out and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

 

Also, after the game they filter all the fans through a small doorway the size of a standard garage door. There were only two options too, north gate or south gate. So trying to fit everyone out took an extremely long time. I am glad the game was good, because the stadium was not. Oh and then when you get out, public transportation isn’t really close by.

 

Love, Hate and Shout Out

Love: Play calling. John Fox pulled a few tricks out of his hat with what was the best play I have seen this season, a fake punt for a Touchdown to give the Bears a lead at 10-9 early in the 3^rd quarter. There was also the best two-point conversion I have seen, a reverse pitch back from the running back to the tight end back to the quarterback. In addition, the Vikings coach made a great call by replacing Sam Bradford at half (although that wasn’t a hard choice because I could have ran a better offense), but he still had to make the move. Great job coaches!

 

Hate: Concessions. I mentioned this enough, no need to get heated up again.

 

Shout Out: Mitch Trubisky. I think it was a great NFL debut regardless of the stats (128 passing yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 22 yards rushing). He made some rookie mistakes sure, but he looked solid and I think the Bears found their guy. Hopefully he stays healthy and they build an offensive line around him. If that happens, I think the Bears will be back in the playoffs and a (dare I say it) Super Bowl contender in a few years.

 

Fan Tips

Bring cash so you can get food and drinks from the staff walking around, that way when the concessions are unprepared (which seems inevitable in Chicago) you can avoid that situation.

 

You can’t leave early (I mean you can, but that’s against my rules) so just be prepared for a long exit time.