Dropped passes add to offensive woes

“They hurt,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said, “but there are a lot of things that hurt – the slow start, getting down like that on the road, and when you’re in a hole, you have to make every play count, and we did.”

Quarterback Jay Cutler agreed.

“There were a lot of problems,” he said. “Offensively, I didn’t play well. Interceptions, however they happened, they still happened. We’ve just got to play better.”

After falling behind 14-0 in the first six minutes – the Vikings had an 80-yard scoring drive on their first possession and an interception by Cutler set up the Vikings’ second touchdown – the Bears regrouped and pulled within 14-7.

A second interception by the Vikings – who had intercepted just seven passes in their first 12 games – gave Minnesota a 21-7 lead.

A touchdown with 1:48 remaining got the Bears within seven, but the comeback fell short as the Vikings ended a six-game losing streak to the Bears.

“We’re not finishing plays, I had a costly drop,” said Bears receiver Devin Hester. “I could have probably had a chance to score and I dropped it.”

Hester’s misplay came on a third-and-6 from the Vikings’ 23 with the Bears trailing 21-7 with 4:37 left. An incompletion on fourth down – intended for Brandon Marshall – gave the ball to the Vikings.

“I have to do better, I let my teammates down today,” Marshall said. “I have to make those plays. … That fourth down, Jay (Cutler) put it on me, right on the money and I dropped it. We are in this situation, we have to step-up. Backs against the wall now, we have to win out.”

Another issue for the Bears was that before their final possession, their offense was primarily Marshall. Marshall caught nine of the Bears’ first 22 completions. On their final scoring drive, four different Bears caught passes before Marshall caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Jason Campbell, who replaced an injured Cutler in the fourth quarter.