Bears Beat Buccaneers 27-24 on Sunday Night Football as Santos Hits Walk-Off Field Goal
Chicago gave the ball away five times, lost a late lead, and still won: Caleb Williams threw four interceptions, Tampa Bay tied it with 2:51 left, and Cairo Santos answered with a 38-yard field goal as time expired. The Bears are 7-2.
CHICAGO - The Chicago Bears spent Sunday night giving a football game away, and then, in the last minute, took it back. Chicago survived five turnovers - including the first four-interception game of Caleb Williams's college or professional career - to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-24 on Sunday Night Football, with Cairo Santos kicking a 38-yard field goal as time expired, NBC Sports reports. The Bears are 7-2; the Buccaneers fall to 3-6.
For a half, none of that looked likely. Williams threw touchdown passes to Rome Odunze and Luther Burden as Chicago built a 14-0 lead, and after a 25-yard Santos field goal the Bears led 17-3. Tampa Bay chipped it to 17-6 by halftime and opened the second half with Bucky Irving's 2-yard touchdown to make it 17-13 - and then the game turned into a turnover exchange. Williams threw his fourth interception, only for Baker Mayfield to answer with one of his own, which Jaylon Johnson returned 67 yards for a touchdown. Chase McLaughlin's third field goal kept Tampa Bay within a score with 11:24 to play.
Chicago's fifth giveaway nearly finished the job for Tampa Bay. Burden - who led the Bears with seven catches for 97 yards and a touchdown - fumbled deep in Chicago territory, and the Buccaneers cashed it in: Irving scored from 6 yards out and Mayfield scrambled in for the two-point conversion to tie the game 24-24 with 2:51 remaining. The same drive cost Chicago a player: Burden sustained a concussion in the final minutes, head coach Ben Johnson said after the game, according to USA Today's live file. Tampa Bay's defense, which had forced all five turnovers, needed one more stop. It did not get it: Williams found Colston Loveland for 38 yards down to the Tampa Bay 16, the Bears drained the clock, and Santos split the uprights from 38 yards at the buzzer.
The numbers say Tampa Bay should have won going away: five takeaways, a blocked punt that set the offense up at midfield - and only 10 points scored off all of it, the failure that decided the night. Williams finished 22 of 37 for 279 yards with two touchdowns against the four interceptions; Mayfield went 18 of 32 for 243 yards with two interceptions of his own; Irving carried 20 times for 97 yards and both Buccaneers rushing touchdowns. Chicago's 7-2 start keeps it in front in the league's best division - every NFC North team has at least six wins. Both teams now take a Week 10 bye: the Bears host the Saints in Week 11, and the Buccaneers go to Detroit.
