Chicago Bears: 3 Studs from Week 15 victory over the Vikings

The Chicago Bears are back in the playoff hunt with the win against the Vikings

The Chicago Bears took on their division rival Minnesota Vikings in their Week 15 matchup. The Bears ended up winning 33 to 27 in a game that, at times, shouldn’t have been as close as it was. The offense played pretty well for the most part, while the defense had a tale of two halves.

I thought the defense was playing pretty well at the beginning of the game but they were still letting the Vikings hang around, as they were slowly chipping away from the Bears’ lead. Of course, it ended up not mattering as Chicago never gave up the lead en route to their seventh win of the season, bringing their record to 7-7 on the outside looking in for a playoff birth.

The Chicago Bears are going to need some help to get back into the playoffs. The Cardinals are one game better sitting at 8-6. The Bears may grab an easy win next week against the Jaguars but before getting too far ahead, let’s look at who played well in week 15.

Stud No. 1: Bilal Nichols

Bilal Nichols has quietly been having a great season. When Eddie Goldman decided to opt-out of the 2020 season there was good reason to have some worries. Goldman is a phenomenal three-technique, and his production was thought to be sorely missed.

However, the Bears made a smart move shifting Nichols over to nose tackle. He’s been used as an inside defensive end up until this season but he looks to have found his role in 2020. Nichols was a beast on Sunday getting in on seven total tackles, which can be tough to do at his position.

He wasn’t without his faults though, because Dalvin Cook had himself a big day for Minnesota, going well over 100 yards on a Bears defense that had some major issues at times on Sunday.