Vikings vs. Bears, Week 12: Injuries overshadow Bears win

Coming off back-to-back losses, Chicago's 28-10 win against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday was huge for the Bears' playoff chances.

While the Bears are now in better shape in the NFC North, it didn't come without a price. As Steven Schweickert of Windy City Gridiron writes, the story of Sunday's win was more about the players who left the field rather than the final score.

Possible defensive player of the year Charles Tillman left Sunday's game, as did Matt Forte, Devin Hester, Chris Spencer and Lance Louis. While the status of those players is still unknown and will likely be determined this week, Chicago still did plenty of good against the Vikings.

As Schweickert noted, the offensive line played well despite several injuries.

But for an "All Hands On Deck" type of game like this turned out to be, they turned in a pretty admirable, if not great, performance.

That doesn't mean there is a simple solution for everything. Replacing Hester may be especially troublesome.

But seriously though, where do the Bears go with the Hester injury - do they activate Dane Sanzenbacher and return Eric Weems to kick returner while Hester's concussed, or does Joe Anderson get the call from the practice squad?

Despite it all, it was an encouraging performance for the Bears, who must now prepare for another test next week.

The execution was all-around better after the first typical pants-crapping drive the Bears usually have, and things moved better until the fourth quarter when the Bears were just out of parts. Good game, now file it away and be ready for Seattle.