gular season finale John Randle Jersey , the Chicago Bears won the coin toss, meaning that the Minnesota Vikings would take the field on offense first. Cody Parkey put his foot to the pigskin and it floated through the end zone for a touchback, giving the Vikings the ball at their own 25. Kirk Cousins led the Minnesota offense out onto the field, and got things started with a short pass to Stefon Diggs for three yards. After being forced to throw the ball away on second down, 3rd-and-7 saw Cousins overthrow Diggs, and it was a three-and-out for the Minnesota offense. Matt Wile came in to punt, and Tarik Cohen called for the fair catch at the Chicago 29-yard line.Mitchell Trubisky took his offense onto the field, and Jordan Howard took a handoff for seven yards to get them started. Howard then took another handoff and blasted through a huge hole on the right side for a 42-yard gain down to the Minnesota 22-yard line. That was followed by an 8-yard run by Anthony Miller on a toss play, and the Bears were into the red zone.The Bears tried the toss to Miller again, and he was stopped by Everson Griffen for a loss to bring up a third down. On that third down, Trubisky dropped back to pass and found a wide open Trey Burton to set up a first-and-goal situation for the Bears from the Minnesota 6-yard line. Chicago then called a timeout to prevent a delay of game penalty, Howard finished the drive off with a six-yard touchdown run, and the extra point from Parkey gave the visiting team an early 7-0 lead.Parkey kicked the ball away again, and it once more went through the end zone for a touchback. The Vikings’ offense got their second possession started with a handoff to Dalvin Cook for a gain of four yards, and he got the call on third down as well to make it 3rd-and-3. On third down, the Vikings’ offense failed again Alan Page Jersey , as Eddie Goldman came through and took Cousins down for a sack to force another three-and-out. Wile came on to punt again, and after Tarik Cohen recovered his own muff of an attempted fair catch, Chicago took over at their own 29-yard line.Trubisky led the Chicago offense onto the field again, and the first play saw Cohen taken down by Sheldon Richardson for no gain. Trubisky then completed a pass to Javon Wims for a 4-yard gain to bring up 3rd-and-6. On third down, Trubisky overthrew Burton, and it was a three-and-out for Chicago! Pat O’Donnell came on to punt it away to the pride of Concordia College, Brandon Zylstra, and he got a short return to the Minnesota 25-yard line.Drive number three for the Minnesota offense got started with Dalvin Cook getting wrestled down by Akiem Hicks for no gain. Cousins then connected with Kyle Rudolph for a gain of five to bring up yet another third down situation. Cousins completed the pass on third down to Stefon Diggs, but it was short of the sticks for a third consecutive three-and-out. Once again, out came Matt Wile and booted one far enough that Cohen had to call for the fair catch at the Chicago 12-yard line.Chicago came out for their third possession and started off with a short run by Howard. Howard got another short gain on second down to bring up another third down situation for the Bears’ offense. On that third down, Trubisky found Kevin White. . .yeah, Kevin White. . .for a gain of 22 and a first down to the Chicago 38. The Bears were called for holding on the next play to push them back ten yards, and Trubisky then found Taylor Gabriel for a gain of eight. A pass to Josh Bellamy brought up a 3rd-and-10 for the Bears, and Gabriel was stopped a yard short of the line to gain. As we move to the second quarter, the Bears are looking at 4th-and-1 from their own 47-yard line.The Vikings trail in a must-win game after the first quarter by a score of 7-0. Can they eventually get it together here? MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — While taking the NFC North champion Chicago Bears to the playoffs for the first time in eight years, coach Matt Nagy has displayed an energetic personality and aggressive mindset throughout his debut.Even with their postseason position all but set Randy Moss Jersey , the Bears refused to let up. They kept the rival Minnesota Vikings out of the playoffs in the process.Fueled by that relentless defense and 109 rushing yards and two touchdowns by Jordan Howard, the Bears beat the Vikings 24-10 on Sunday for their first sweep of Minnesota since 2011.Article continues below ...“I love winning. I think it’s fun to win,” Nagy said. “So when you win, whoever it is, who cares? Let’s just play ball.”With the 24-0 win by Philadelphia at Washington, the Vikings (8-7-1) watched the Eagles claim the last wild-card spot and went home wondering what happened to their offense after signing Kirk Cousins for $84 million guaranteed to be the franchise quarterback.Tarik Cohen scored the last touchdown on a short run with 7:46 left to cap a 16-play drive for the Bears (12-4), who posted their best regular-season record since the 2006 team finished 13-3 and reached the Super Bowl. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games and, instead of the Vikings will host the Eagles in the first round.“We’re growing. We’re getting stronger by the week,” Nagy said. “This will be a new challenge for us, but we’re excited. We’ll be ready.”The Bears began the afternoon with an opportunity, albeit unlikely, to get a first-round bye with a victory and a loss by the Los Angeles Rams, who wound up beating San Francisco 48-32. Nagy was unmoved by the big early lead taken by the Rams, though, keeping quarterback Mitch Trubisky in the entire game and only holding out the starters who were already previously injured.“Every time we step on the field we want to win,” Trubisky said. “I think it just shows the maturity of this team that we weren’t looking ahead. We weren’t thinking about sitting out. We just do exactly what’s asked.”After spending the majority of the last two decades trying to keep up with Green Bay Cris Carter Jersey , the Vikings have overtaken the Packers only to have their other primary rival, the Bears, surge to the top of the division. Most problematic since coach Mike Zimmer took over has been the struggle to move and protect the ball against Akiem Hicks, Khalil Mack, Kyle Fuller and the rest of that Chicago defense, which established a franchise record for fewest rushing yards allowed in a season.Done in by three-and-outs on their first four possessions, the Vikings finished with only 164 total yards.“They’re pretty good,” Zimmer said, “so give them credit.”THE CLINCHERTrubisky moved the chains four times on third down during the game-sealing scoring drive, completing three passes and running once for a first down. He took a sack by Anthony Barr that would’ve forced a punt from the Minnesota 45, but a holding penalty on Vikings safety Jayron Kearse gave Chicago a fresh set of downs.“The way we played, we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs,” Barr said.FRUSTRATION APPARENTCousins and Pro Bowl wide receiver Adam Thielen were in a heated argument on the sideline after the Vikings had to settle for a field goal at the end of the second quarter. Zimmer almost cost the Vikings a touchdown when he challenged the spot of a reception by Dalvin Cook, who stepped out of bounds right at the marker.Cousins sneaked for the first down on fourth-and-1, only to have the play blown dead by the red flag. Cook was able to get the first down on the next play.Stefon Diggs, who went over 1 Chris Doleman Jersey ,000 receiving yards for the first time in his four-year career, caught a short touchdown pass right after that. Otherwise, the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium was mostly silent when the Vikings had the ball.“They knew what the implications were from this game,” Hicks said, “and we took it from them.”INJURY REPORTBears: With WR Allen Robinson (ribs) already held out of the game, WR Anthony Miller (shoulder) was hurt on the first drive and didn’t return. WR Taylor Gabriel (ribs) was injured a little later, leaving the Bears with only three WRs.Vikings: With CB Xavier Rhodes (groin) sidelined for the game, rookie Holton Hill was in the starting lineup for the third time this season. Hill was targeted often, including a 40-yard reception by Gabriel at the goal line that set up the second TD by Howard despite tight coverage on the difficult catch.UP NEXTBears: Host the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles in the NFC wild-card round of the playoffs next Sunday, 30 years after the “Fog Bowl” game at Soldier Field. The Bears beat the Eagles 20-12 to advance to the NFC championship game that day with little to no visibility.“If we keep doing what we’re doing,” Trubisky said, “hopefully we can do something special.”Vikings: Stay home for the playoffs for the third time in five years under Zimmer. They’ve won two postseason games, both in the division round, in 14 years.