Vikings beat Bears to secure seventh straight win

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold completed 24 of 40 passes for 231 yards

The Minnesota Vikings claimed a seventh straight NFL victory with a 30-12 win over the Chicago Bears in Minneapolis.

Minnesota, who had already booked their place in the play-offs after the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, are now 12-2 and level with Detroit Lions at the top of the NFC North.

Quarterback Sam Darnold completed 24 of 40 passes for 231 yards, one touchdown to Justin Jefferson and one interception as the Vikings boosted their chances of achieving the top seed in the NFC.

Aaron Jones and Cam Akers had touchdown runs in the second half as the Bears fell to an eighth consecutive defeat.

A tight defensive performance from the Vikings saw the Bears held without a touchdown until late in the fourth quarter when quarterback Caleb Williams found Keenan Allen with a 16-yard scoring pass.

"It was about our defence's effort tonight," said Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell, whose side were 13-0 up at half-time.

"It just felt like when we needed a play, those guys made it."

Elsewhere, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins ended his four-game touchdown pass drought as the Falcons held on to beat the Las Vegas Raiders 15-9.

The win for the Falcons was their first in four games, improving them to 7-7, behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who are 8-6, in the NFC South.

Cousins had failed to throw a touchdown pass since 3 November, but against the Raiders, he passed for 112 yards with one interception and provided Drake London with a touchdown in the first quarter.

"It's not where I want it to be," said Cousins. "There's a lot of room for improvement."

The Raiders were still threatening late, but quarterback Desmond Ridder failed to connect on two passes into the end zone in the last 10 seconds.