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McNiff's Riffs: Disturbing developments for decompressing Purple Gang

The only way the Vikings can get better is by focusing on how to improve in what they do. But, if they were watching their competition this past weekend they are aware that both the Packers and the Bears are serious about improving their deficiencies too.
Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 27, 2018; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald (99) sacks Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) in the fourth quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Rams defeated the Vikings 38-31.

If you’re a Minnesota Viking or a Vikings fan, there’s not much worse than sitting around on a Sunday afternoon following a loss and watching both the Packers and Bears win handily.

The only saving grace comes from the “Department of Hollow Consolation," where the Detroit Lions reverted to form and managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Dallas. Otherwise, the entire weekend would have been a complete washout.

Still, there were a couple of developments from Sunday’s games that run along the lines of, “Man bites dog!”

READ: More McNiff's Riffs

First, in Green Bay, the Buffalo Bills team the Vikings were expecting in week three showed up in Sunday’s game against the Packers. We can either blame the Bills for not playing the same sort of inspired football they did against the Vikes, or we can acknowledge the fact that the Packers are finally serious about trying to play defense.

Credit: Adam Wesley
The Packers made Josh Allen look like the rookie he is, just one week after the Vikings allowed him to turn in an All-Pro-like performance.

Start with Green Bay’s new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, whose play calling made Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen look like the rookie he is... in a way the Vikings did not.

Allen finished just 16 of 33 passing for a paltry 155 yards. Pro-Bowl Running Back LeSean McCoy was back in the Bills lineup, but McCoy was limited to just five carries for 24 yards as the Packers pitched their first shutout in almost eight years, in a 22-to-0 victory.

Green Bay’s emphasis on defense should be a concern to Viking fans, but I didn't find it nearly as distressing as another major development in the NFC North I watched play out Sunday afternoon in Chicago.

While the Packers were in the process of improving to 2-1-1, and moving in front of our sub-500 Vikings, both teams were served notice that the 3-1 Chicago Bears are a team to be reckoned with, and not just because of the addition of Khalil Mack to a Bears defense that finished among the NFL’s Top 10 in 2017.

Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski
An already awesome Bears defense that gave the Vikings fits last year is now even better, with the addition of Khalil Mack.

The Bears, who came within an Aaron Rodgers revival of opening the season 3-0, finally had their offense arrive in a 48-10 destruction of the previously 2-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

From their glory days as the “Monsters of the Midway" to the era of Walter Peyton and Jim McMahon, defense has always been the identity of the Chicago Bears. But the off-season hiring of Matt Nagy as the team’s head coach is a sign that word finally reached the Bears brain trust that you do actually need to score points if you’re going to win football games.

Not only did the Bears score points in Sunday’s win over the Bucs, they scored a bunch of them. They did so in a manner that should be unsettling to the "Skol Patrol" and "Packer-Backers" alike.

Chicago quarterback Mitchell Trubisky threw six touchdown passes to five different receivers in the Bears' 48-10 trouncing of Tampa Bay. Sure, the Bucs' secondary was depleted, but I believe what you saw yesterday was more indicative of what lays ahead than what we saw in Chicago’s previous three games.

The Bears (especially Trubisky) are still learning Nagy’s system. but yesterday we saw a young quarterback who is figuring out that he now has playmakers all around him. That leads me to believe that the Bears are not only going to be a bigger player than we expected in the race for an NFC playoff spot, but also for the NFC North divisional title as well.

I haven’t even gotten to Khalil Mack yet.

Against Tampa, Trubisky became just the second player in NFL history to throw five touchdown passes to five different receivers in the first half of a game. The other... of course... is Aaron Rodgers, who did so against the Bears back in 2014.

In just his second season, Trubisky’s six touchdown passes were not just one shy of the NFL’s single game record of seven, but they were also just one short of his SEASON TOTAL for 2017, a number accumulated over a period of 12 games.

If you’re reading this and saying, “Come on McNiff! Trubisky threw for only two touchdown passes in Chicago’s first three games!,” You are correct, and I AM aware. However, my faith lies as much in Nagy as it does in Trubisky.

Nagy came to Chicago from Kansas City, where he designed the Chiefs' high-scoring offense that is now being run to perfection by second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and was run by Alex Smith before him. Factor in the off-season additions of free-agent wideouts Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel, tight end Trey Burton, and the return to good health of former first-round draft pick Kevin White. Toss in returning backs Tarik Cohen and Jordan Howard and suddenly Chicago not only has options on offense, but they have a head coach who knows how to take advantage of them, and a quarterback who seems to be figuring out how to use them.

Oh, and don’t forget, they have Khalil Mack, too.

I was troubled watching the Vikings' 23-10, 2017 regular season ending win over the Bears. Despite having several players out with injury and basically nothing to play for, the Bears defense gave the Vikings fits. Chicago just appeared bigger, stronger and more physical than the more talented Vikings.

Now I fear, things have changed for the worse.

After adding linebacker Roquan Smith in the draft and executing the Khalil Mack trade, the Bears have not only upgraded Vic Fangio’s defense, but with Nagy calling the shots on offense and Trubisky apparently starting to figure out how to run Nagy’s system, these Bears appear to have bite on both sides of the ball.

The only way the Vikings can get better is by focusing on how to improve in what they do. But, if they were watching the competition this past weekend, they are aware that both the Packers and the Bears are serious about improving their deficiencies too. And for one weekend (at least), both teams appeared to be further along in their process than the purple.

Hear more Vikings talk from Tim in his bi-weekly podcast "McNiff's Huddle" below:

On a mobile device, go here: https://mcniffshuddle.podbean.com/

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