Week 2: Winners & Losers vs Bears

The Minnesota Vikings won 9-3, in a defensive masterclass against the Chicago bears. The Vikings move to 2-0 on the season at the top of the NFC North as we take a look at the winners and losers from this game.

Winners of the Game

1. Brian Flores

Brian Flores once again shows the league why he deserves to be a head coach in the National Football League. What a game for the defensive playcaller, who has come out in back-to-back weeks blitzing at an insane rate of over 70% in both games. Flores held a Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson-led offense to only 3 points after they put up 59 points just the week before. This defensive front is going to be scary throughout the entire season, no matter who they play.

We also got to see our first bit of Caleb Banks due to an unfortunate injury to Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, which we will get into more later.

2. Dallas Turner

I mean, this guy is already in Defensive Player of the Year conversations. Turner racked up 2 sacks and a ton of pressures, now leading the league in pressures and quarterback hits while ranking second in sacks. To put into perspective how many pressures Turner has, he would shatter J.J. Watt's record by 60 at his current pace.

For a guy who got a lot of criticism from fans for not playing much in his first two seasons, it has been well worth the wait to see him burst onto the scene in Year 3 as already one of the best pass rushers in the league just two weeks into the season.

3. Aaron Jones

Aaron Jones rushed for 105 yards on 23 carries, completely taking over the backfield with Jordan Mason on IR for another 3 weeks. Jones played extremely well all game, being exactly what the Vikings needed on a rainy day that made passing much harder to execute. Not much more to say other than the 31-year-old captain was a huge part of this game.

4. Isaiah Rodgers and Byron Murphy

After a rough game for the Vikings secondary in Week 1, they bounced back big in Week 2. Rodgers racked up a fumble recovery at the goal line and a blocked field goal as well to keep Minnesota in the lead. Murphy got a clutch interception and racked up a handful of pass breakups as well in the defensive effort to stop Caleb Williams.

5. Caleb Banks

It was not 100% pretty, but last week we put him in the losers category because of his lack of snaps as a first-round pick. In Week 2, due to injuries ahead of him on the depth chart, Caleb Banks got his shot to show us what he can do, and he showed promise.

Banks made some plays in the backfield, including a tackle for loss, and ate up blocks to clog the holes in Chicago's run game. It wasn't perfect, but he made plays, and the future looks promising for the Vikings' 2026 first-round pick.

Losers of the Game

1. Overall Offensive Performance

There isn't much to complain about in this game, but at the end of the day, the Minnesota Vikings only put up 9 points, and most of the time that will not be enough to win. Would love to see more opportunities go Jordan Addison's way once Kyler Murray is back next week, but overall, the Vikings won, so we move on from this performance.

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