luckadjusted

Week 12 2023 · November 27, 2023

Bears at Vikings, Week 12 2023: who deserved to win?

The Bears beat the Vikings 12–10, but the Vikings played well enough to win it: they take 7 of 10 replays with the same day's form. Luck ran their way: injuries alone were worth 7.0 points to the Bears.

Before kickoff the Vikings were 59% favorites. The biggest swing (Q4, 1:06 left): the Bears converted 3rd & 10, worth 35 points of win probability to the Bears.

Final

Chicago Bears 12
Minnesota Vikings 10

November 27, 2023 · U.S. Bank Stadium · Closing line: Vikings −3

Luck index +73 Bears very lucky · −73 Vikings

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Bears win 3, Vikings win 7.

  1. 1 CHI 19 MIN 3
  2. 2 CHI 20 MIN 13
  3. 3 CHI 16 MIN 13
  4. 4 CHI 18 MIN 20
  5. 5 CHI 8 MIN 12
  6. 6 CHI 17 MIN 24
  7. 7 CHI 10 MIN 20
  8. 8 CHI 0 MIN 14
  9. 9 CHI 10 MIN 29
  10. 10 CHI 3 MIN 29

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Bears win 27% of them, Vikings 73%, counting the 4% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Bears by 2.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Bears by 17+3.3%
Bears by 9–167.8%
Bears by 1–814.3%
Level after regulation4.0%
Vikings by 1–825.8%
Vikings by 9–1622.1%
Vikings by 17+22.7%

Where the luck was

Take the luck out

The final margin was Bears by 2. Remove the luck, one kind at a time, and it becomes Bears by 1.4.

Each row takes one kind of luck out of the margin. Color shows which team it helped. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each component is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • C. Santos, 48 yds missed · 79% expected
  • C. Santos, 25 yds made · 99% expected
  • G. Joseph, 34 yds made · 94% expected
  • C. Santos, 39 yds made · 90% expected
  • C. Santos, 55 yds made · 67% expected
  • C. Santos, 30 yds made · 97% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

When it happened

Vikings’ chance of winning

As low as 0% and as high as 80%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Vikings were ahead in it, below while the Bears were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 5:57 C. Santos missed 48-yard field goalKicks · 79% expected for him, 23 of 32 from 45+ before +8% MIN CHI: Field goal
2 Q1 0:22 The Bears converted 4th & 103rd & 4th downs · 26% expected +13% CHI CHI: Field goal
3 Q2 7:34 The Vikings were stopped on 3rd & 43rd & 4th downs · 44% expectedThe Vikings were intercepted on a well-placed throwInterceptions · 0% expected to stay out of the defense's hands +17% CHI MIN: Punt
4 Q3 2:46 The Vikings were stopped on 4th & 33rd & 4th downs · 50% expectedThe Vikings were intercepted on a well-placed throwInterceptions · 0% expected to stay out of the defense's hands +18% CHI MIN: Turnover
5 Q4 14:20 C. Santos made 55-yard field goalKicks · 67% expected for him, 23 of 33 from 45+ before +8% CHI CHI: Turnover
6 Q4 3:36 The Bears were stopped on 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 26% expectedThe Bears fumbled and the Vikings recoveredFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +25% MIN CHI: Field goal
7 Q4 1:06 The Bears converted 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 26% expected +35% CHI CHI: Field goal
8 Q4 0:13 C. Santos made 30-yard field goalKicks · 97% expected for him +17% CHI –

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Kirk Cousins (MIN QB), out (IR), replaced by j.dobbs · 5.8 pts
  • Justin Jefferson (MIN WR), out (IR) · 1.5 pts
  • Jordan Hicks (MIN LB), out (IR) · 0.5 pts
  • Akayleb Evans (MIN CB), out · 0.3 pts
  • Marcus Davenport (MIN LB), out (IR) · 0.2 pts
  • Tyrique Stevenson (CHI CB), out · 0.8 pts
  • Larry Borom (CHI T), out · 0.5 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Bears 91% · Vikings 9%

Final margin
Bears by 2
Luck in points
0.6 for the Bears
Luck-adjusted margin
Bears by 1.4
Replay with same day's form
Bears 27% · Vikings 73% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

We tested momentum on 19,000 lucky breaks and found none, so it's off by default. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting; injuries from snap counts and injury reports.

Methodology and validation · All Week 12 2023 games · Bears · Vikings

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