Five extra points: Aggressive opening moves and smart closing ones aid Vikings win

Hooray, Kevin O'Connell! The young analytics enthusiast showed he isn't afraid to also do things based on his gut. When the Vikings won the coin toss Sunday, O'Connell chose to take the ball rather than defer, which he had done the previous two times the Vikings won the coin toss this season. The result was a 12-play, 86-yard touchdown drive that took nearly seven minutes and set the Vikings on their way to a 29-22 victory over the Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium. "I just wanted to be aggressive, and there's no rule that says you can't try to set the tone to play complementary football with your offense," O'Connell said. "We got so much confidence in our quarterback, our group, our coaching staff to put together a great plan. The easy part is really calling the plays and watching our plan come to life." The so-called "book" after winning the coin toss is to defer. "I know the analytics folks might get angry with me at times for stuff like that," O'Connell said. "But when it works out in our favor, it's certainly a good thing."

O'Connell called four passes to Justin Jefferson on the opening drive. Jefferson had four first downs on catches of 16, 14, 16 and 9 yards. The cushion the Bears gave Jefferson, especially early on, made the pitch-and-catch between Cousins and Jefferson look like a Saturday morning walk-through. "Justin was able to attack some one-on-one coverage early on," O'Connell said. Wrong. It was one-on-none coverage. Jefferson had a 5-yard cushion on his easy 9-yard catch on second-and-7 at the 10. The Vikings have now had the ball first three times this season, the first two coming when the opponent won the coin toss. They have three touchdown drives of 78, 75 and 86 yards on 10, 13 and 12 plays.

Safety Harrison Smith had one pass defense. And, boy, did it come at the perfect time. The Bears had third-and-5 at the Vikings' 25 when Justin Fields launched a ball into the back corner of the end zone for Darnell Mooney. Smith joked, kind of, that he was panicking a bit because he didn't see the play unfold clearly. He also tipped his cap to the fans at U.S. Bank Stadium for helping him out. "I didn't get my head around, but I could tell when the ball was coming based on the crowd's reaction," Smith said. "Then it was just a matter of putting my arm up through the pocket and punching the ball out." The Bears had to settle for a field goal and trailed 21-19 with 1:05 left in the third.

Cameron Dantzler's physicality — ripping the ball from former teammate Ihmir Smith-Marsette for a takeaway in the closing minute — is what started Sunday's game-clinching play. How he ended that play — falling down inbounds to secure the ball — showed what's been put between his ears during the team's Friday morning "situational masters" meetings run by game management coordinator Ryan Cordell and assistant head coach Mike Pettine. The two of them use that meeting to go through every imaginable situation that can pop up in a game. "No matter how little time we have in a stressed, busy week coming off a long trip, we gotta have that meeting," O'Connell said. "They have a saying — 'The [teaching] tape makes itself' because every Sunday in this league you can watch teams win and lose games based on decisions they make [in various situations]."

One of the hardest runs of the season by Dalvin Cook came one snap after the Bears closed to within 21-19 in the third quarter, a 13-yard run around left end. "He came blitzing out of there," receiver Adam Thielen said. "I think plays like that are going to come with the way teams are going to defend [the receivers]." A laugher for the Vikings had somehow become a two-point game. Cook, who had 94 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, looked determined to settle everything down by grinding the Bears down. And he might have, except the second snap on that series — another 7-yard blast — was negated by tight end Johnny Mundt's holding penalty. What should have been second-and-3 became first-and-20. Four plays later, Cousins was intercepted. For the first time this season, the Vikings had more penalties than their opponent. They had seven for 70 yards. The Bears had six for 40.