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Rozner: Mack's huge night keeps Bears atop division

The Bears' offense was on the field for 5 seconds short of 20 minutes in the first half.

And that's pretty much the story of Sunday night's 25-20 victory over Minnesota at Soldier Field.

As always, the Bears will make it about the heroics of Mitch Trubisky, but he was not the story of a second straight division win.

Give Matt Nagy credit for running the ball, as he promised to start doing this week after giving up on the rush so quickly in so many games.

"You can't go through this thing and be one-dimensional. It's just too easy for defenses," said the Bears head coach. "We're not going to stop until we get it figured out.

"It's up to us as coaches to lift every stone possible to figure out what do we need to do. Yeah, it's about players and it is about execution, but we need to do our job and figure out, 'OK, what's best for the Chicago Bears run game.'

"In the passing game, we're slowly starting to figure that out. We're not there yet. But in the run game, we have a ways to go and we're trying to get through that.

"As we get further on in the season here, we have to get it fixed. As the weather gets a little nastier, we need to be able to run the football. It's plain and simple."

Nagy tried - at times - and the Bears were more effective on the ground Sunday night than they have been of late.

But the real story of this game - and of this season - is Khalil Mack and the Bears' defense. That's why the offense had the ball for so much of the first two quarters.

Trubisky did a nice job avoiding sacks on the first drive that should have ended with a 3-and-out, and it led to a Cody Parkey field goal, which was met with the biggest cheer of the night, a sarcastic one at that.

The only real mistake by the Bears' defense in the first half came on the second Minnesota series when Kyle Fuller was smoked by Stefon Diggs, but Vikings QB Kirk Cousins missed him wide open in the end zone.

That cost Minnesota 7 points and Mack cost them another 3 a few plays later when he forced a fumble and recovered it to give the Bears' offense the ball.

After Trubisky's first interception of the night, into triple coverage, it was Mack in coverage forcing another 3-and-out.

That led to a Bears' TD drive that featured Jordan Howard and the first of a pair of 2-point conversions on the night, and then it was Mack pressuring Cousins and yet another 3-and-out.

The Bears got late first-half points on a Parkey field goal, aided by a Minnesota unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and the Bears had a 14-0 halftime lead.

Another Trubisky interception gave the Vikings great field position in the third quarter, but with Minnesota driving it was Mack who killed their TD hopes with a huge sack that stopped the drive, which ended in a field goal and the Vikings' first points.

Still 14-3 early in the fourth, a Tarik Cohen fumble gave Minnesota life, but on third-and-2 from the Bears' 10, Akiem Hicks ended that drive with a sack.

Another field goal made it 14-6, but after Trubisky was nearly picked and the Bears punted, Eddie Jackson ended the game midway through the fourth with a pick-6.

You don't have to look far to figure out why the Bears are 7-3 and leading the division.

It's the defense and it's Mack that has completely changed the look of the defense.

The running game still has to get better and Nagy still has to convince himself that Howard is the answer, but he might be getting closer as he watches Trubisky under pressure and the weather start to deteriorate.

The Bears can win a division without a running game, but they want to play games here in January and they might want to pound it down someone's throat.

It's a matter of what part of the game Nagy wants to trust.

The Bears' first four possessions of the second half went punt, interception, fumble, punt.

Trubisky could have easily had 4 interceptions Sunday night, yet Nagy seems to doubt the ability of the offensive line to put away a game on the ground.

Maybe he's right, but he needs to find out soon.

In the meantime, he knows the defense will do its job with Khalil Mack leading the way.

And if the NFL world were fair, Mack would be in the MVP conversation.

In the world of Bears, there's no doubt.

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