Kevin O'Connell didn't lose Monday night's game to the Bears, but his overtaxed defenders deserved better than what he did to them by going for it on fourth-and-7 from his own 49-yard line in a 3-3 game with 12:10 left in the third quarter.
This thought came to mind before Joshua Dobbs' 6 ½-yard pass to tight end T.J. Hockenson turned the ball over on downs at the Chicago 45. So it wasn't a hindsight-is-20-20 take that prompted this question for the Vikings coach:
"Kevin, if you trusted your defense, why not flip the field, punt the ball down to around the 10-yard line and bank on getting it back around midfield via punt?