Vikings Coach Still Emotional Over Costly Bears Kickoff Return

There were a lot of reasons why the Minnesota Vikings lost their sixth game of the season on Sunday afternoon, against the Chicago Bears. Most of their problems currently reside on offense, specifically with their kid quarterback JJ McCarthy and his inability to grasp head coach Kevin O’Connell’s offense.

Vikings fans, coaches and teammates can only hope the 2024 No. 10 overall pick hit rock bottom on Sunday when he helped dig a 16-3 hole against the Bears by completing just 10-of-24 passes for 74 yards and 2 interceptions, through 3.5 quarters of play.

Looking back on that devastating Bears kick return…

But minutes later, after a momentum changing kickoff return, TWO STRAIGHT run calls by head coach Kevin O’Connell and a gutsy final drive by their struggling quarterback miraculously landed them a 17-16 lead with under a minute left to play.

For a brief moment in time, after McCarthy’s touchdown pass to Jordan Addison, it felt like the Minnesota Vikings had yet again found a band-aid to cover up one of the ugliest games they’ve played all season, thanks to a soothing healing component called victory. But then… this happened.

Related: Kevin O’Connell is the MN Vikings’ Biggest Problem

Without Devan DuVaney’s 61-yard kickoff return, Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears offense would have needed 30-40 yards (with all three TO), in order to enter field goal range.

Instead, their final drive started at the Minnesota Vikings’ 39-yard line and consisted of three run plays for nine yards, before Cairo Santos hit the game-winning field goal that put Chicago on top as time expired, 19-17.

MN Vikings ST coordinator Matt Daniels taking mishap hard

On Tuesday, local media got an opportunity to speak with Vikings special teams coordinator, Matt Daniels, who cut open a vein at the podium over how hard he took the loss resulting from his unit’s mishap.

Daniels also made it very clear that DuVaney’s game-breaking return happened, not because of any special play the Bears returner made, but instead because Minnesota’s coverage unit “got greedy” and didn’t maintain their assignments.

“I’ve been in the league now eight years, played football a long time and I’ve never felt the way I felt after that football game. Never…you’d rather just get beat a different way, rather lose a different way… It was tough.”

Matt Daniels – MN Vikings special teams coordinator