The Winners and Losers of Vikings Week 11 Loss to Bears
The Minnesota Vikings just can’t catch a rhythm in 2025, stumbling again in a winnable home matchup against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Here are the winners and losers from the latest setback, with the team’s playoff pulse probably kaput.
Breaking down the Vikings’ biggest winners and toughest losers from their Week 11 loss to the Chicago Bears in a frustrating NFC North setback.
Minnesota now has six days to regroup and reset, heading to Green Bay for a Week 12 showdown with the Packers that suddenly feels like a consolation.
Studs and Duds from Vikings’ Loss to Bears
Back to the drawing board — again — for Minnesota.
Loser: Jordan Addison
Addison dropped a catchable ball from J.J. McCarthy — one of the few on Sunday — early in the game that would’ve resulted in a touchdown — or sizable gain, at worst. In a situation when a young quarterback struggles with basic accuracy, drops absolutely cannot happen.
The 23-year-old also dropped a second pass before catching the touchdown that would have propelled Minnesota to a dub, if not for lousy special teams play. So, kudos to Addison for the in-game redemption arc, but drops cannot occur when a quarterback needs every speck of assistance.
Winner: Dallas Turner
Dallas Turner delivered his single-best outing as a pro, so the afternoon wasn’t a total wash. He stacked 7 tackles, 3 quarterback hits, 2 tackles for loss, a sack, and even a pass breakup — a full-line impact performance. Turner stepped in for Jonathan Greenard as a true edge hunter after previously operating in the “Andrew Van Ginkel role.” Maybe this is the clue: he might simply be built for the Greenard spot.
Our Cole Smith noted on Turner’s Week 11 showing, “The Vikings didn’t have Jonathan Greenard for this game, but Dallas Turner started in his place and had the best game of his career. According to Next Gen Stats, Turner generated six pressures and one sack on 30 pass rush opportunities. He had a chance for another sack, but Caleb Williams somehow escaped his grasp. Turner may be turning a corner in his development.”
Loser: J.J. McCarthy
Indeed, McCarthy found a redemption storyline late in the 4th Quarter, connecting with Jordan Addison for the go-ahead touchdown.
But somehow — some way — that did not wholly erase his generalized inaccuracy for the first 57 minutes. McCarthy’s pass-catchers often did him no favors with drops — six of them. Still, McCarthy was not accurate, and by analytical metrics, he has started his career at one of the worst historical paces in modern memory.
With McCarthy, the Vikings have a real pickle right now: hope to win now with a roster filled with win-now veterans or just kick back and let the young passer cut his teeth, knowing that the outcome will be mostly losses.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said about his quarterback after the game, “I think the element of moving forward into an NFL offense, and the types of throws, the tighter hashes, the more space in the middle of the field, the game’s different. I thought some of his most impactful plays were on some of those weighty downs, 3rd and 4th downs.”
“And he’s had some very impactful plays on those weighty downs for us as well, just looking for the consistency factor. What is my job? What am I being asked to do? And when we start there and we check those boxes, there’s only been some good, good football that follows, and that’s just the journey and the path of the young player learning that lesson and applying it as we move forward to just get out, have a guy out of his lane there.”
Winner: Andrew Van Ginkel
Pro Football Focus didn’t enjoy Van Ginkel’s performance against Chicago, but VikingsTerritory did.
He notched 8 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and a quarterback hit. Van Ginkel has experienced an up-and-down season because of a concussion matter, but he appears to be back-back, and he played wonderfully in Week 11.
He and the aforementioned Turner made the Vikings not miss Jonathan Greenard all that much, believe it or not.
Loser: All Playoff Hopes
That’s it for the 2025 purple team. Oddsmakers now assign Minnesota a 7% of reaching the postseason. It’s just not going to happen.
The club would have to fire off a 6-1 record the rest of the way — at worst — and if it cannot beat non-elite teams at home like the Ravens and Bears, it won’t rally and barnstorm the league just because.
The only hope would be that McCarthy flips a switch this Sunday in Lambeau and never looks back. But why would that suddenly happen now? Or — the conspiratorial route: the Vikings could sit McCarthy with an injury designation and give Max Brosmer a look. The only problem with Brosmer is that his whole profile is propped up by a sweet preseason showing. The preseason rarely translates to NFL production.
Minnesota will continue its every-other-year playoff appearance routine.
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