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CHICAGO -- Teddy Bridgewater guided the Minnesota Vikings to a comeback win with 10 points in under two minutes on Sunday at Soldier Field. "That's why you play 60 minutes," said Bridgewater, who completed just 10 of 20 passes for a 38.1 passer rating entering the fourth quarter.
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That's when Bridgewater decided to trust his receivers.
Bridgewater connected with wide receiver Charles Johnson on a 35-yard pass play to set up Blair Walsh for a 36-yard field goal and give Minnesota a 23-20 win over the Chicago Bears.
"Can't win on the road. Can't win in a temporary stadium," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said of purported reasons his team won't win. "Keep coming up with them."
Running back Adrian Peterson rushed for 103 yards, but Bridgewater finding his groove in the final 1:49 saved the Vikings (5-2) and might have buried the Bears.
"At this point, we can't point fingers. We can't let up," Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said.
Bridgewater completed 10 passes in the first three quarters but hit the two that counted.
"It's all about how you finish," Zimmer said. "I've been asked the question about can this guy if he had to lead us back to a victory, and you saw that today. Teddy made some huge plays when he needs to."
Vikings backup wide receiver Charles Johnson, who had a 39 1/2-inch vertical leap coming out of Grand Valley State in 2013, caught a high-arcing 35-yard jump ball from Bridgewater over Bears safety Antrel Rolle to get the Vikings to the Chicago 27 with 25 seconds left. Peterson's 9-yard run on first down set up Walsh's final kick.
"He put that 39-inch vertical to work today," Bridgewater said.
Bridgewater, who finished 17 of 30 for 187 yards, connected with receiver Stefon Diggs on a third-down curl route and the speedy rookie spun away from nickel cornerback Sherrick McManis to sprint inside the left pylon, squeezing past safety Adrian Amos for the 40-yard touchdown that tied the score at 20.
Bears coach John Fox said McManis, who aided the previous Minnesota drive with a defensive holding penalty, needed to be in better position.
Diggs caught a team-high six passes for 95 yards. Alshon Jeffery led the Bears with 10 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown.
The Bears dropped to 2-5 with back-to-back division losses by three points.
"We've got to coach better. We've got to execute better," Fox said of Chicago's crunch-time plight.
The Vikings' last two-game winning streak on the road was in December 2012, when Peterson was wrapping up his 2,097-yard season with Christian Ponder at quarterback. It's the first win at Chicago for the Vikings in eight years.
Chicago's final drive -- between Bridgewater's big plays -- lasted three plays and 47 seconds, ending on a drop by rookie running back Jeremy Langford.
The Bears had jumped ahead 20-13 on a dramatic score with 4:55 to play.
Cutler took a shotgun snap on second-and-goal at the 4 and rambled right into open pastures with Vikings safety Harrison Smith closing for a collision right at the goal line. The wreckage resulted in Cutler landing in the end zone to cap a drive lasting more than eight minutes.
"Things weren't going our way. It was all self-inflicted," Bridgewater said. "We knew this was going to be a 60-minute game, fight to the finish."
Smith's third-quarter collision with Matt Forte, hit squarely on the knees on a textbook open-field tackle, sent the Bears' Pro Bowl running back to the locker room for the rest of the game.
Walsh made a 48-yard field goal to tie the score 13-all early in the fourth quarter.
Cutler thrived on short, quick throws in the first half behind his makeshift offensive line but found his groove working mostly to his left with Jeffery. He hit Jeffery on stop-and-go route -- in the back-right corner of the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown, knotting the score at 10.
"I told our guys, we fought, we battled," Fox said.
Vikings cornerback Marcus Sherels got Minnesota on the board when he coasted down the sideline for a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown with 3:37 left in the first quarter, the third special teams score for Bears' opponents this season. Minnesota tacked on a 43-yard Walsh field goal with 9:05 on the clock in the second quarter.
NOTES: Line judge Ron Marinucci was helped off the field in the fourth quarter after staggering briefly and falling to the turf. ... Bears WR Eddie Royal left the game in the second quarter with a knee injury and did not return. ... OL Matt Slauson made his first career start at center for the Bears with rookie Hroniss Grassu inactive. LT Jermon Bushrod was also inactive. Charles Leno started alongside LG Vladimir Ducasse, who shifted from right guard to take Slauson's spot. ... Vikings DT Sharrif Floyd was inactive and replaced in the starting lineup by Tom Johnson. ... Vikings RT T.J. Clemmings suffered a stinger on the final series of the third quarter but returned.
