Cousins, defense paveway to win

CHICAGO — Kirk Cousins will take a victory any day of theweek. That he finally got one on a Monday night didn’t seem to matter.

Cousins threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns, and the Minnesota Vikings overcame a 104-yard kickoff return by Chicago’s Cordarrelle Patterson to beat the Bears 19-13.

Cousins won for the first time in 10 career Monday night starts. He hit Adam Thielen for a 6-yard score early in the fourth quarter to put Minnesota ahead by the final margin, and the Vikings (4-5) held on for their third straight win. They also snapped a four-game losing streak against Chicago (5-5).

“Great to get a win,” Cousins said. “We’ll try to keep building on it now, and it’ll be so important to keep stringing these together if we can. That’s really what the rest of the season will be all about.”

Bears quarterback Nick Foles got taken from the field on a cart in the game’s final minute. Chicago coach Matt Nagy said Foles’ leg and hip were being evaluated after he got slammed on his right side byMinnesota’s Ifeadi Odenigbo as he threw the ball away.

Patterson joined Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington as the only players with eight kick returns for touchdowns when he ran back the opening kickoff of the second half to give Chicago a 13-7 lead. Itwas the longest kickoff return in franchise history, surpassing Gale Sayers’ 103-yarder against Pittsburgh on Sept. 17, 1967.

Patterson had all the room he needed as he sprinted up the sideline and raised two fingers as he closed in on the end zone.

“I don’t know what I did, man. I was blacked out at the time,” Patterson said.

The record return was the lone bright spot for the Bears as they lost their fourthina rowandmatched their longest skid sinceNagy was hired in 2018. The Bears had just 149 offensive yards.

Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook ran for 96 yards on 30 attempts. Justin Jefferson caught eight passes for 135 yards and tied Randy Moss’ club rookie record with his fourth 100-yard receiving game.