Another special-teams disaster with Vikings punt returner Marcus Sherels breaking a 65-yard touchdown runback on the Bears’ first punt, a situation on which coverage was nowhere near the returner. Punter Patrick O’Donnell was paralleling Sherels for the last 20 or so yards, with defensive end Danielle Hunter screening off somewhat but O’Donnell not closing for a shot at a tackle over that stretch. “I didn’t have a shot at him,” O’Donnell said.
It was not the only instance of poor coverage, just the most egregious. But the Bears allowed Sherels a 12-yard return of a fourth-quarter O’Donnell punt, putting the football at the Minnesota 34 instead of back at 22 where Sherels caught O’Donnell’s 53-yard punt.