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This week we’re going to jump right into the grades, with extra observations on the backend:

Five Highest Grades

DE Jared Allen (Grade: 9.0) – Allen showed up against his former team Sunday and had his best game of the season. He was a problem for Vikings left tackle Matt Kalil all day and was strong against the run. Overall, Allen isn’t having a bad season — he just hasn’t been consistent. After two sub-par efforts against the Patriots and Packers, he looked like his old self against the Vikings.

LB Lance Briggs (8.0) – Speaking of looking like your old self, Lance Briggs did the same, flying around the field Sunday. He made a number of nice plays, but shooting through the A-gap to stop Jerick McKinnon for a 3-yard loss stood out.

RB Matt Forte (5.0) – Just another Sunday for Matt Forte, who has been the most consistent player on the Bears this season. His overall grade of 4.60 is by far the best grade on the team this season. The next closest player is…

WR Alshon Jeffery (5.0) – Jeffery’s overall grade is an even 3.00 after catching 11 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown Sunday. After three down games in a row, it was encouraging to see Jeffery get back to high-pointing footballs against single-coverage.

CB Tim Jennings (5.0) – Jennings still doesn’t have an interception this season, but he put together his best game of the season Sunday. He virtually shut down the receivers he faced in pass coverage and was also very stout in supporting the run.

Five Lowest Grades

K Robbie Gould (Grade: -3.0) – You’re going to sense a theme here with the special teamers, and it starts with Gould who missed a 47-yard field goal and uncharacteristically kicked a ball out of bounds on a kickoff.

TE Martellus Bennett (-2.0) – Bennett caught four passes for 29 yards, but struggled with his blocking and also had illegal formation and illegal blocking downfield penalties.

LB Christian Jones (-1.0) – Someone (sorry, I’m forgetting who) said it best on Twitter: “A block in the back with your back is still a block in the back.”

P Pat O’Donnell (-1.0) – The rookie hasn’t been bad this season, but he also hasn’t been good and that’s a problem when Tress Way — who was cut by the Bears in training camp for the second straight season — is leading the league in punting.

S Danny McCray (-1.00) –  You can’t put the fake punt completely on McCray (it was more of a coaching issue), but he did have an opportunity to keep outside contain on the play and he was slow to react. With an overall solid performance elsewhere, that was enough to land him on this list.

Other Observations

– Look, I’ll be the first to say the clock problems at Soldier Field were ridiculous and embarrassing for Chicago and the Bears organization, but Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer reached a little bit Monday when he said Bridgewater’s game-ending interception was a result of him thinking the clock was running out. If Bridgewater really thought that, then he wasn’t paying attention, as referee Ron Torbert clearly announced before the snap that there was 1:05 remaining in the game. Zimmer and Bridgewater deserve to be mad — no team should have to run a two-minute drill without a clock — but Bridgewater has to be more aware if he really thought the clock was going to run out on him.

– The play was brought back by an illegal formation penalty, but 5-8, 175-pound Chris Williams showed a good blocking effort taking on 6-2, 213-pound safety Harrison Smith on a pitch to Matt Forte. He held the block just long enough for right tackle Michael Ola to get outside on the pull and clean up Smith, allowing Forte to go around him for what would have been a first-down.

– Speaking of the illegal formation penalty, it was called when Bennett went into formation from left to right and lined up to the right of Ola. Bennett appeared to be somewhat behind Ola, sort of half-way off the line of scrimmage and half-way not. It was a debatable call and the line judge took a long time to think about it before throwing the flag on the ground, but that’s a simple alignment issue that should never be that close anyway.

– Kyle Long’s false start penalty was a similar situation. He was just barely rocking, but was doing so for a good second or two, which almost made it harder to catch. It wasn’t a flinch or anything, but it was still technically illegal and actually part of the points of emphasis for officials this season.

– Backup running back Ka’Deem Carey only played four snaps Sunday, but he had a nice blitz pickup that won’t go unnoticed by the coaching staff.

– Nickelback Demontre Hurst played a lot better Sunday. He still has some things to work on in coverage, but he’s showing improvement in that area and made a number of open field tackles against the Vikings. He was also strong in run support and came in hard on a blitz that sent Bridgewater about 18 yards backwards before he finally threw it away. The fact that Mel Tucker sent Hurst on that blitz is a sign that he is earning some trust from the coaching staff.

– Tucker sent McClellin on edge blitzes a lot more after not using him in that capacity at all last week against the Packers. McClellin created some periodic pressure, but never got home.

– Middle linebacker D.J. Williams had a nice game overall. One play in particular that stood out was when he attacked the B-gap, bounced off a block from fullback Jerome Felton, located the football, weaved around traffic and stopped McKinnon cold on the opposite hash. It was exactly what you want to see from your middle linebacker. Like most on this Bears’ roster, Williams’ problem this season has been consistency and if he can play consistently like he did Sunday, the Bears’ defense will be much better off the rest of the way.

– The Vikings’ touchdown was simply the result of a well-designed play. You never want to see a player wide open, but Minnesota ran all the action to the left and the Bears’ three linebackers were all flowing that way with their gap responsibilities. That’s when tight end Rhett Ellison planted his foot in the ground, spun and reversed to the right, just as the Vikings faked the handoff. Briggs was the closest linebacker on that side, but it’s asking an awful lot of him to react to a spin move like that with the play flowing the other way. Even if he had, Ellison would have been open, it just would have been a question of whether or not Briggs could have stopped him from getting in the end zone. I’m not sure he could have either way, but it just looked bad because Ellison was never really challenged. Give Norv Turner credit for that one. It was a nice play.

Adam Hoge covers the Bears for 87.7 The Game and TheGameChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.