Sensibly, the Canadian TV schedules omitted this game as having no bearing on the playoff standings and chose to broadcast games that still mattered. Neither the Chicago Bears nor the Minnesota Vikings had anything left to play for, aside from pride and perhaps a minor shift in final draft standings for 2017. The Vikings finally played the kind of game fans had been waiting for since week six of the season, producing the season’s highest score (with some significant help from the defence).

Sam Bradford set a few records during the game: the NFL record for completion rate at 71.6%, and the Vikings single-season record for completed passes (395, beating Daunte Culpepper’s 379 in 2004) and lowest interception percentage (0.9%, beating Brett Favre’s 1.32% in 2009).

Also setting records was Kyle Rudolph who moved into first place in team history with his 29th touchdown reception by a tight end, previously held by Steve Jordan. Overall, he also passed Joe Senser for most catches by a tight end with 83 for the season.

1500ESPN‘s Matthew Coller:

From the opening drive, it was pretty obvious the Vikings were going to clobber the Bears. They cruised 40 yards on four plays for a Jerick McKinnon touchdown on a 10-yard screen pass.

Chicago worked down the field themselves until third-string QB Matt Barkley tossed an ugly interception. After that, not only was it all Vikings, it was the offense that fans could only dream of all season.

Bradford was aggressive, working the ball down the field. The offensive line protected its quarterback well – which may have been helped by the fact that Rashod Hill played left tackle instead of TJ Clemmings – and the Vikings ran the ball with a fair amount of success.

So, more or less the opposite of what we’ve seen in 2016. The offense entered the game ranking 30th in yards per play and dead last in rushing yards per carry.

It was enough to make you think: What if the Vikings offense had exploded like this just once or twice along the way?

Christopher Gates steps in to handle the Daily Norseman‘s Stock Market Report for a vacationing Ted Glover:

Junk Bonds

U.S. Bank Stadium Security – How in the sweet blue hell do you let two guys get a huge banner and all sorts of climbing apparatus into the building and then let them up onto the damn roof? I mean, I don’t know if this was some sort of Ocean’s Eleven sort of deal or how exactly this all came about, but honestly … not a good look for the security folks. Particularly when the National Football League won’t even let you bring a damn purse into the building (unless it’s one of those clear “league approved” bags) from what I understand.

Buy/Sell

Buy: Rashod Hill had a pretty solid performance today – For a guy that hadn’t really seen any real NFL action prior to this afternoon’s game, he stepped in and did a very good job in both pass protection and moving people in the run game. He’s definitely got a future with team.

Sell: Rashod Hill is the left tackle of the future – However, let’s slow our roll for a bit here, ladies and gentlemen. The Vikings still need a ton of help on the offensive line, and they’ll almost certainly be looking at potential “franchise” left tackles in the draft and free agency. The potential certainly appears to be there, but we’ll have to see where this leads.

Buy: This pass defense is still one of the NFL’s best – The Vikings’ defense did a very good job of shutting down Chicago’s passing attack on Sunday, intercepting two passes and forcing one Matt Barkley fumble that was returned for a touchdown by Everson Griffen. When everything is working, the combination of this pass rush and secondary is as good as any unit in the league. The past couple of weeks were just a bump in the road.

Sell: That run defense, though – However, they certainly aren’t the Williams Wall when it comes to stopping the run. For the second time this year, Jordan Howard looked like the second coming of Walter Payton, racking up 135 yards rushing against the Minnesota defense. He was just about all the Bears had on offense on Sunday, and they still had a lot of difficulty stopping it. Outside of offensive line help, the Vikings’ biggest need this offseason might be someone to pair with Linval Joseph on the defensive interior.

Buy: Mike Zimmer as the coach of this team – I shouldn’t even have to say this, but apparently I do. I think most of us still like Mike Zimmer, the coach, and given some of the circumstances that he’s dealt with in his first three seasons, he’s done about as good a job as you could expect. We’ll get more into that in the next few days.

Sell: The suggestion that Zimmer’s job was ever really in jeopardy – I’m not sure where this came from, but apparently both Bleacher Report and Pro Football Talk “confirmed” after the game that the Vikings would be “bringing Mike Zimmer back.” I know there was the whole issue with the defensive game plan in Green Bay, but honestly … there was no way that the Vikings were going to fire Mike Zimmer. Is he going to be under a bit more scrutiny this offseason and into next season? Yes, I’m sure he will be. But that’s an entirely different thing from suggesting his job was in danger.

I also don’t understand how anyone thought Mike Zimmer’s job was at stake this season. I still don’t get what happened in the Green Bay game between Zimmer and the defensive backs, but aside from that I don’t think any coach in the NFL could have done much better than Zimmer did with this season of mindboggling weirdness.