By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Cairo Santos kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired Sunday night to give the Chicago Bears a 27-24 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Soldier Field, extending the team’s winning streak to four games.
The win moved the Bears to 7-2, their best nine-game start since 2012, despite an uncharacteristic five turnovers by an offense that entered the game as one of the league’s most efficient.
Quarterback Caleb Williams completed 22 of 37 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns but threw four interceptions. Williams staked the Bears to an early 14-0 lead, connecting with Rome Odunze for a 9-yard score and Luther Burden III for a 56-yard touchdown on the team’s first two possessions.
Tampa Bay chipped away and eventually tied the score at 24-24 on Bucky Irving’s 6-yard touchdown run and Baker Mayfield’s two-point conversion with 2:51 remaining. Williams then engineered the winning eight-play, 49-yard drive, highlighted by a 38-yard completion to a wide-open Colston Loveland to the Buccaneers’ 16-yard line with 38 seconds left.
“Great job by the guys, finding a way to get a win,” coach Ben Johnson said in his postgame news conference. “It was a good football team that we just played. Defense was outstanding.”
The Bears defense kept the game within reach despite the turnovers. On the four possessions that followed Williams’ interceptions, the defense allowed just three points and scored a touchdown of its own.
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson intercepted a Mayfield pass late in the third quarter and returned it 67 yards for a touchdown, pushing the lead to 24-13. Defensive end Montez Sweat cleared Johnson’s path with a key block on Mayfield.
“That’s just who we are,” Johnson said after the game. “We always fight.”
Safety Cam Lewis added the Bears’ other interception, diving in front of a Mayfield pass intended for receiver Tez Johnson in the second quarter. The defense also registered four sacks and held Tampa Bay to just 2-of-12 third-down conversions.
“The defense is really the unsung hero this game,” Johnson said Monday during his review session with reporters. “To have the five turnovers and the blocked punt and only 11 points on those drives, that’s really a phenomenal job.”
The Bears have not trailed in their last four games, leading for a combined 210 minutes and 20 seconds while being tied for 29 minutes and 40 seconds. It marks the first time the franchise has won four straight without trailing in any of them since 2018.
Williams had set an NFL record with 36 straight games of at least 20 pass attempts and fewer than two interceptions before Sunday night. He had thrown multiple picks in only two career outings previously, both coming during his rookie season in 2024.
Burden caught seven passes for 97 yards and a touchdown in the game. The Buccaneers’ top-ranked run defense held the Bears to 72 yards on 22 carries.
Defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, acquired in a recent trade, recorded a sack in his second game with the Bears. He has 6.0 sacks on the season, the most by an interior defensive lineman in the league.
The Bears head into their bye week before returning to action. They are 7-0 in November games under Johnson across two seasons.
“It’s hard to win with five turnovers, and yet we found a way to do it,” Johnson said. “I believe the best is yet to come in terms of our football in the back half of this season.”
