LAKE FOREST, Ill. — A 21-13 victory Sunday over the Minnesota Vikings halted a tailspin without providing any real convincing proof the Chicago Bears can make a late-season run for a wild card.

The Bears found a way to beat a team with an inexperienced quarterback and obvious matchup problems against taller receivers more than they used execution of coach Marc Trestman’s system. They even made many of the same silly mistakes that led to their three-game losing streak prior to the win.

Still, they often managed to look bad even before the snap of the ball, or instead of it.

They fell behind again as they had done the previous three games, trailing 10-0 and in the process committed six first-half penalties for 50 yards to only one penalty for 8 yards by Minnesota. The pre-snap penalties, in particular, continue to plague the Bears, although they did limit it to only 10 second-half penalty yards.

“I think the biggest thing to the penalties is it’s something we were able to correct and get out of that business very early,” Trestman said. “But it certainly slowed us down. It slowed us down on both sides of the ball early on, getting off the field defensively and staying on the field and continuing drives offensively.

“It’s not what we want. It’s not acceptable to us. But at the same time, I appreciated the fact that our team was able to clean that up and move forward. We were pretty clean the rest of the way.”

Jay Cutler threw his obligatory two interceptions and very nearly lost a fumble on another play that officials seemed to botch in the first half when he lost the ball forward without anyone falling on it immediately. It seemed eerily similar to the play that came back to haunt the Bears’ defense in last year’s season-finale when Aaron Rodgers lost the ball on a Julius Peppers sack — except on that one the Packers had the presence of mind to scoop up the ball and take it in for a touchdown.

It was one of the few plays all day when Cutler received good heat. The pass blocking may have been the greatest rallying point for the Bears in this one as their seventh offensive line group and sixth different starting group shrugged off losing right tackle Jared Mills to a rib injury and held the Vikings without a sack. No one had done that this year, as the Vikings had a league-high 30 and 20 in the previous four games.

“We went to work to try to neutralize the pass rush and did that in various ways with our passing game and our ability to slam some runs in there,” Trestman said. “The guys did a good job. Jay did a good job of managing the protection side of it as well, getting us into the right plays.”

It also helped that Cutler moved around in the pocket sometimes to buy time so zone coverage downfield could eventually turn into man coverage.

“We got to move the pocket, we got to help the offensive line, we got to get some easy throws in the flat — get some stuff on the outside, keep teams off-balance, make us less predictable,” Cutler said.

The play calling involved a failed fourth-and-goal attempt with Cutler running it around left end. The Bears had no problem gambling and succeeding two other times on fourth down.

“Up front, the guys did a great job moving some piles. We had some third and short and fourth and short,” Cutler said. “To be able to convert those, to keep drives going, it’s a good thing.”

Defensively, the effort at least takes pressure off coordinator Mel Tucker. The 243 yards allowed was a season low and a low under Trestman. So, too, were the 10 first downs allowed. The Vikings’ 13 points matched a low under Trestman.

“We just played aggressive,” Trestman said.” I think we’ve really got to focus on doing that. I think it started with the run game. We were able to shut down the run game early and force him into throwing the ball.

“Our back end did a heck of a job covering guys.”

Regardless of the long-term aspect of a win, players were merely glad to hear about something positive for a change after about a month of losing talk. The called the more positive attitude something that could provide a foundation for future success.

“Call it ‘rallying around each other’ or whatever, but I think the sense of urgency was there,” Allen said. “You can only get beat up so many times before you fight back. People can question the character of the locker room, but we know what we have.

“And now, honestly, we’re in a take it week-by-week situation. This is playoff football for us now. We’ve got to try and stockpile these wins and see what happens at the end of the year.”

REPORT CARD VS. VIKINGS

–PASSING OFFENSE: B-plus — It evoked memories of last year’s passing game, with Jay Cutler throwing the ball up downfield and giving Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall chances to beat shorter defenders. The screen game was also very effective to Matt Forte and the receivers. The offensive line enjoyed its best protection day of the year, preventing a sack against a team that led the league with 30 sacks and hadn’t been held without one in a game this season. They did it using their sixth different starting offensive line. The only negative in here was Cutler — as usual. While he made big plays, he made one bad throw before halftime for an interception. The other pick may not have been his fault.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: A-minus — Matt Forte’s two conversions of fourth-down runs and his and the offensive line’s production on first down and in short yardage were the best all season. Forte had his longest run of the year (32 yards). The only negative was Jay Cutler trying to run around left end on fourth down at the goal line on a straight QB sweep. He’s not quite cut out for running to the pylon, even if he is more mobile than many QBs.

–PASS DEFENSE: A-minus — Jared Allen got a sack against his former team and the secondary did enough in terms of coverage disguises and shaking it up that they kept Teddy Bridgewater from ever settling in and making throws consistently. Ryan Mundy’s interception to seal the game was the first by the Bears since their win over Atlanta four games ago. Then again, the Vikings aren’t known as an aerial powerhouse.

–RUSH DEFENSE: A-plus — They held the Vikings running back combo to 40 total rushing yards and only 17 after Jerick McKinnon broke a 23-yarder the first series. When Teddy Bridgewater had a chance to run a read option near the goal line, they Bears read it and stuffed it for a change. Linebackers Lance Briggs and D.J. Williams dominated behind the line consistently.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: F — A key penalty, poor field position due to return problems, a short Pat O’Donnell punt in the second half and Robbie Gould’s missed 47-yard field goal in the first quarter were bad enough, but giving up the only big gainer of the game for the Vikings on a fake-punt end-around play for 48 yards was the capper. It came in prime fake punt territory and the Bears should have been anticipating this on the edges as well as in the middle on fourth-and-two.

–COACHING: B — Mark Trestman’s offensive plan came out of the textbook of how to handle the Vikings defense. It looked like some of the game plans the Bears used before this Vikings coaching regime was in charge. Mel Tucker had the defense prepared for a traditional offensive scheme and they held their ground. Only the mistake when the fake punt team weighed against the Bears. Considering all the distractions and negativity of a three-game losing streak, Trestman and the coaches did a standout job of keeping the team focused coming off two horrendous defeats.