Vikings vs. Bears: Brett Favre Injured as Chicago Clinches NFC North

Minnesota Vikings' quarterback Brett Favre may have played the final game of his NFL career Monday night. He sustained an apparent concussion after he was sacked and his head slammed into the frozen turf at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium.

After all, it was a surprise that Favre was able to start the game despite a shoulder injury. Now football fans everywhere have to wonder whether he'll ever play again. We may have seen Brett Favre play football for the last time.

Although that was the biggest story coming out of the game, it should not overshadow a great performance by the Chicago Bears who put up an impressive 40-14 victory over the Vikings on Monday Night Football. The victory puts Chicago in the playoffs at a time when the squad is playing some of its best football.

Some thoughts on the game:

• Vikings' running back Adrian Peterson sat out with knee and ankle injuries, but backup Toby Gerhart played well in his place.

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• Favre didn't have a full range of motion with his right arm, which showed both on his passes and when he failed to grab a shotgun snap that sailed right past him. Still, Favre put in an admirable effort in the early going with a touchdown pass that gave Minnesota an early 7-0 lead. Before he left, Favre went 5-of-7 for 63 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

• His only interception was a deflected pass picked-off by Bears' defensive end Julius Peppers. The turnover set up a Chicago field goal that made the score 7-3.

• In the second quarter, Bears' quarterback Jay Cutler got the offense going. He hit Johnny Knox on a 67-yard touchdown pass to give the Bears a 10-7 lead. He then capped an eight-play, 70-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Devin Hester to make the score 17-7.

• Hester got the second half started with a 79-yard kickoff return all the way to the six-yard line, but the Bears' offense couldn't capitalize and had to settle for a field goal that made the score 20-7.

• The Vikings' offense went three-and-out after that and punted to Hester, who took it 64 yards to the house for his NFL-record 14th career kick return touchdown. That made the score 27-7, Bears.

• Vikings' quarterback Joe Webb had a great 13-yard run in which he dove into the corner of the end zone and stuck the ball over the goal line to bring the score to 27-14 in the third quarter.

• But from there it was all Bears. Cutler hit Rashied Davis for a nine-yard touchdown pass, and then two field goals from Robbie Gould made the score 40-14, Chicago. From there it was garbage time and the Bears cruised to an easy win.

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