The Bears’ pass rush is more effective than the Vikings’

A week earlier against the Packers, Odunze helped set up a potential game-winning field goal with catches of 16 yards on third-and-19 and 21 yards on fourth-and-3 on consecutive snaps.

“It’s two games in a row with fourth-down calls and he’s made plays,” Brown said. “They were aggressive plays and he never backed down with that mentality. But he does it every day in training. For me there is a direct connection between what you do throughout the week and what happens on game day.”

It took years for the Bears to recover from an onside kick against the Vikings. Cairo Santos’ kick deflected off Minnesota’s Camryn Bynum and was tied up by Tarvarius Moore. This season there have now been 3 of 37 successful onside kicks in the NFL (8.6%).

“I can’t speak to the strategy, but it happened exactly the way we wanted it to,” said special teams coordinator Richard Hightower. “We have been working on this kick for two and a half years. Two days a week for two and a half years, and I was proud of that one time we got the chance.” These guys never complained in that moment about doing it twice a week for two and a half years . It takes that time, that commitment and that effort to have a successful piece.