Minnesota 25, Chicago 7

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Daunte Culpepper passed for 216 yards, Randy Moss caught nine passes for 119 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown, and Michael Bennett rushed for 116 more yards Sunday to lead the Minnesota Vikings to a 25-7 victory over the Chicago Bears.

The loss was the fifth in a row for the Bears (2-5), who posted a 27-23 victory over Minnesota in the season opener.

"I wish I could pinpoint it," Chicago safety Mike Brown said. "It's probably a whole bunch of things. When you're going in a spiral, five in row, it can be tough."

The Vikings (2-5) scored all of their points in a span of less than 24 minutes bridging the second and third quarters.

Besieged by injuries to their defense, the Bears came in allowing 25.8 points per game and hardly resembled the unit that posted a 13-6 victory here last season, when they won eight of their first 10 games en route to their first division title since 1990.

Chicago's defense came in ranked 27th and played without tackle Ted Washington (ankle), linebacker Warrick Holdman (knee) and cornerback R.W. McQuarters (hamstring).

Minnesota held the ball for 41:03 and its first three drives were longer than 10 plays.

"They were always running two deep at Randy," Culpepper said. "So it would be hard to throw the ball deep. We knew running the ball so efficiently that we would have a shot."

"I think it was patience, taking what was there, dinking and dunking when we had to," Vikings coach Mike Tice said. "If we had a chance to go down the field we did that. It was a formula that we've been trying to accomplish for 60 minutes. Today was the first time that we did."

Culpepper, who entered Sunday's game with 12 interceptions and threw two in Minnesota's season-opening loss at Chicago, completed 22 of 29 passes and had just one turnover.

"It's something that we wanted to do and something we did last time we played them and that was control the clock, run the football," Vikings tight end Byron Chamberlain said. "We've been moving the ball against anybody. The big thing for our offense has been the turnovers. That has been a killer all year. Today we didn't turn it over like we've been doing."

Gary Anderson kicked a pair of field goals and Moe Williams scored on a one-yard run in the final 8:52 of the second quarter to stake the Vikings to a 13-0 halftime lead. Williams' touchdown on a fourth-down play capped an 11-play, 64-yard drive following an interception by linebacker Greg Biekert.

Anderson's second field goal was set up by outstanding field position as rookie Nick Davis returned Brad Maynard's punt 55 yards to the 14 with 55 seconds remaining.

Moss caught a pass at the Chicago 11 with 16 seconds left, but lineman Chris Liwienski was whistled for a false start, forcing Anderson to kick the field goal.

On Minnesota's first possession of the second half, Culpepper connected with Moss on a 39-yard touchdown, increasing the lead to 20-0.

On first and 10, Moss ran past cornerback Reggie Austin down the left sideline and was open in the corner of the end zone.

Meanwhile, the Vikings defense sacked Chris Chandler five times.

Filling in as a starter for the injured Jim Miller for the second straight week, Chandler was 15 of 25 for 176 yards.

"They were playing a lot tighter today, said Chandler, whose last start in Minnesota was the 1999 NFC championship game, when he led the Atlanta Falcons to a 40-37 overtime victory. "They had a whole different game plan this week and it showed."

Chicago's offense stalled against Minnesota's 29th-ranked defense, which came in allowing 30.8 yards per game. Anthony Thomas had just 18 yards on nine carries and the Bears did not score until Chandler's 27-yard touchdown pass to Marty Booker six seconds into the fourth quarter.

In addition to the sacks, Minnesota picked off Chandler twice, recovered one fumble and had a safety.

The Vikings took a 22-0 lead two plays after Culpepper fumbled at the goal line, when defensive tackle Fred Robbins tackled Thomas in the end zone for a safety.

"It was a combination of things, but when they're running the ball like they were doing, it makes the game plan a lot easier," Brown said. "They were able to move Randy around and get him the ball. Daunte made some great plays getting out of the pocket and running."