Ten days after sacking a grizzled 39-year-old sitting duck five times on Thursday Night Football, the Vikings' league-leading pass rush heads to Chicago hoping to treat a wide-eyed 22-year-old duckling the same way or worse on Monday Night Football.
After facing old Ben Roethlisberger, Vikings' league-best pass rush faces challenge of young Justin Fields
In beating Pittsburgh, the Vikings contended with the experience of 39-year-old Ben Roethlisberger. Next up is Justin Fields, Chicago's first-round draft pick, who brings a different challenge.
December 15, 2021 at 5:49PM
Yes, Bears rookie Justin Fields will be more slippery than Pittsburgh's 18-year veteran Ben Roethlisberger. But the 11th overall draft pick should be easier to confuse with a pass rush that's remained viable in the six games since the Vikings last had their top two edge rushers — Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen — on the field at the same time.
"Give credit [to Fields], he's been a mobile quarterback in college and is showing he can do it in the NFL," Vikings defensive tackle Armon Watts said. "So [co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson] is going to put us in a good rush plan to attack him. I think we did a good job against guys like Lamar [Jackson]. … We got a good rush plan for him. I'm not really worried about it."
The Vikings sacked Jackson three times and intercepted him twice. However, the Ravens' former league MVP also ran for 120 yards on 21 mostly maddening carries in a 34-31 win.
Fields is a typically confused rookie in that he's completing only 57.6% of his passes with six touchdowns, 14 turnovers and a 2-7 record as a starter. But he also is averaging 5.9 yards per carry with 385 yards and two touchdowns. He had 103 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries against San Francisco and nine carries for 74 yards in Sunday night's loss to the Packers.
"He's got a big arm, very athletic," said Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, who's 1-5 against the Bears since 2018. "I think he's been improving each week."
He's also been taking a ton of sacks. He's started only nine games and played 562 snaps, but has been sacked 33 times, which is more than 22 teams have allowed.
Only Cincinnati's Joe Burrow (41), Jackson (38) and Tennessee's Ryan Tannehill (37) have been sacked more times. Fields leads them in percentage of sacks per snaps (5.9). Burrow (5.1), Jackson (4.7) and Tannehill (4.1) follow.
A year ago, with Hunter on injured reserve and Griffen playing in Dallas and Detroit, the Vikings posted a franchise-record low 23 sacks. Hunter (six sacks) and Griffen (five) had nearly half that total in the first seven games this season. Hunter's season ended with a torn pec that week. Griffen played three more games with no more sacks before having to leave the team for mental health reasons.
"It's no secret everybody thought when we lost Griff and D that we were going to be pretty shorthanded," Watts said. "But I think Dre [Patterson's] done a good job getting us ready and preparing us for what we need to bring to the table.
"We don't have a bunch of guys in that room that are trying to be Danielle or be Everson. They just have to find what they're good at, and that's what I think I did this year. That's what Sheldon [Richardson] does, some of the other guys, too."
The Vikings have a league-high 41 sacks by 16 players. Only one other team, the Jets, have as many players with at least half a sack.
The 30-sack total by players other than Hunter and Griffen is more by itself than 17 other teams right now. Thursday night, Roethlisberger was felled by five different defenders in the first 32 minutes before turning a 29-0 Vikings laugher into a 36-28 Purple Nation stress test.
Nose tackle Michael Pierce extended his career high to three sacks in only six games. Watts and Eric Kendricks raised their career highs to five. Harrison Smith matched his career high of three. And Richardson got the other sack.
Ten of the 16 players with at least half a sack have either notched a career high, tied it or have had their only career sacks this season.
Two sacks on Roethlisberger were helped by outstanding pre-snap disguises. Kendricks' sack up the middle was aided by Smith faking a front-side blitz. Richardson's sack while unblocked off the front side was helped by Kendricks and Barr faking A-gap blitzes before dropping into coverage.
"It's just trying to create some confusion for the offensive line," Zimmer said. "If you can figure out a way to bring some guys they're not counting on, then you have good opportunities."
The Vikings should be able to surprise the 22-year-old duckling. They just need to catch him if he starts running.
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
