Momentum turned in a single instant

At first glance, it was simple: Blown coverage. Bad read. Disastrous result.

In a battle for first place in a mediocre NFC North division, momentum turned on a 99-yard pass from Gus Frerotte to Bernard Berrian, which came one play after the Bears were stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1 late in the first half.

In the time it took for Berrian to run a go route from the left side, the game changed -- from the Bears on the verge of taking control to the Vikings taking a 10-7 lead. The division picture might have changed that quickly, too.

But is the first impression the right one?

Berrian lined up left and went. Didn't fake, didn't so much as duck his helmet. He just ran, fast. Cornerback Charles Tillman ran with him for a bit, then suddenly cut toward the middle of the field, as though expecting Berrian to run a deep post. As a result, Berrian was wide open when he hauled in the ball at the 47 and completed the longest offensive play in Vikings history.

It was the third 99-yard pass play completed against Chicago in the Bears' long history; Frerotte will now share space in future Bears media guides with Brett Favre and Sonny Jurgensen.

Afterward the story varied, depending on the player. Safety Kevin Payne said he assumed his cornerback had seen a fake and bitten on it. Coach Lovie Smith, though, wasn't ready to give his guy that out.

"It was three-deep coverage,'' he said. "And we didn't play it well.''

Tillman? He tried to explain the pass away with a line of X's and O's that, put together, spell: mistake.

"It was a good read on their part,'' Tillman said. "[Frerotte] pumped the back side. He gave a hard pump fake. ... It was zone and I had Bernard and the tight end. I was covering both. I chose to take [the tight end]. It was a good play on their part.''

But strip it all down and it comes to this: The Vikings never trailed in the game after that one play. The Bears went from being on their toes to their heels in an instant. Yes, it came after a Vikings goal-line stand. But that pass play was the second half of the one-two combination, the punch that knocked the Bears to the canvas. Everything in this game is either BC (before catch) or AB (after Berrian).

"Even after [the goal-line stand], we had them backed up,'' Smith said. "You just can't let them throw a 99-yard pass.''

Payne talked about a punch to the jaw. And it was a hard one. Adrian Peterson and the Vikings defense just made sure the Bears stayed down.

And now their opportunity is gone. Because that one play might have changed more than the momentum of this one game. A Bears victory would have given them a one-game lead over the Vikings with the head-to-head tiebreaker in hand.

Not now. It's the Vikings in control of the NFC North, with a one-game lead and a split in two games vs. the Bears.

"We need to win them all now,'' said Bears QB Kyle Orton.

Said Payne: "That was such a big [victory] for them. Their defense played good, and their offense came out and did even better.''