Robbie Gould kicked a 49-yard field goal with two seconds left to give the Chicago Bears a dramatic 22-20 come-from-behind victory against the visiting Oakland Raiders on Sunday, Oct. 4, to hand head coach John Fox (Castle Park High School) his first win with the Bears.
“I was really happy to see smiles in there after all that hard work, hopefully we can build on this,” said Fox in a post-game press conference. “I’m really happy for our fans because we haven’t exactly lit it up here at home in the first two opportunities.”
Quarterback Jay Cutler made his return to the Bears’ lineup after a one-game absence by throwing two touchdown passes. He finished the non-conference game by completing 28 of 43 passing attempts for 281 yards. He also threw on interception and was sacked three times to finish with an 89.4 quarterback rating.
Matt Forte led Chicago (1-3) on the ground with 25 carries for 91 yards. Martellus Bennett had 11 catches for 83 yards and one touchdown while teammate Eddie Roya caught seven passes for 54 yards and one score.
Gould kicked three field goals and converted one of two PAT attempts to lead the Bears with 10 kicking points.
The Chicago defense picked up two sacks – one each by Jarvis Jenkins and Eddie Goldman – while Pernell McPhee led the team with eight tackles. Mc Phee also recorded one interception.
Fox praised Cutler’s resolve in returning to active status. “Jay is a tough son-of-a-gun,” Fox explained. “Some lesser guys might not have been in there.”
Cutler buckled down an led the Bears on their game-winning drive after throwing an interception to Charles Woodson earlier in the game.
Fox said the outcome of the game was decided by “six or eight plays” – about that which that decides a typical NFL game.
Oakland (2-2) took an early 14-6 lead before the hosts stormed back with 10 points in the second quarter. McPhee set up a Gould field goal just before intermission to give Chicago a 16-14 halftime lead.
There were a total of six lead changes in the game.
The Raiders went up, 20-19, on field goal by Sebastian Janikowski with just more than two minutes remaining before Gould’s winning kick split the uprights with two seconds left
Oakland then fielded the pooch kick and attempted several laterals before the Bears finally fell on the loose ball to end the game and hand their new coach his first win with the club.
Derek Carr threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns for the Raiders, who entered the game with a two-game winning streak. Aman Cooper (four catches, 49 yards) and Riy Helu (two catches, 13 yards) each caught scoring passes. Michael Crabtree had five catches for 80 yards to lead the visitors while Latavius Murray rushed 15 times for 49 yards.
Janikowski was two-for-two on field goals and also perfect on two extra-point conversions for eight kicking points.
Carr called the game “just one of those old-fashion NFL fights … down to the wire.”
The Bears travel to Kansas City to play another AFC West team on Sunday, Oct. 11. The Chiefs are also 1-3 to start the season.
Alex Smith (Bonita Vista Middle School)
Kansas City is coming off a 36-21 non-divisional loss at Cincinnati on Oct. 3. Smith completed 31 of 45 passing attempts for 386 yards but did not throw a touchdown or interception. He was sacked five times to finish the game with a 95.2 quarterback rating.
The Chiefs were held without an offensive touchdown. Jamaal Charles rushed for 75 yards on 11 carries and Jeremy Maclin had 11 catches for 148 yards.
Kansas City got seven field goals from Cairo Santos to account for all its scoring in the contest. Santos’ longest effort on the day was 51 yards.
The host Bengals (4-0) led 14-3 at the end of the first quarter and 14-12 at halftime before producing some separation between the teams by outscoring the visitors 15-3 in the third quarter.
Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton completed 17 of 24 passing attempts for 321 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions and no sacks to finish the game with a 127.1 quarterback rating. Brandon Tate caught one scoring pass for 55 yards.
Smith has completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,110 yards in four game this season with four touchdowns and three interceptions and an 89.2 quarterback rating.
Cincinnati hosts Seattle (2-2) on Sunday, Oct. 11.
Tony Jefferson (Eastlake High School)
The Arizona Cardinals suffered their first loss on the season after a 3-0 start by dropping an NFC West encounter, 24-22, to the visiting St. Louis Rams. Jefferson had one tackle in the game.
Nick Foles threw for 171 yards and three touchdowns to give the Rams their second win of the season against two losses. Foles finished the game with a 126.2 QB rating.
Carson Palmer threw for 352 yards with one touchdown, one pick and four sacks to finish the game with an 84.7 QB rating.
Tavon Austin (six catches, 96 yards) caught two touchdown passes for the Rams while Calais Campbell led the Cardinals (3-1) with 11 tackles, including 10 solo stops, three tackles for losses and two quarterback hits.
Jefferson has 16 tackles in four games to go with one pass deflection and one interception return for a touchdown.
Arizona is at Detroit (0-4) on Sunday, Oct. 11, while St. Louis travels to Green Bay (4-0).
Chargers’ Rivers earns second FedEx Air Player of the Week award
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers received Week 4 FedEx Air Player of the Week honors after throwing for 358 yards and three touchdowns (118.1 rating) in theChargers’ 30-27 victory against the visiting Cleveland Browns on Oct. 4. Rivers, who also won the award in Week 1, leads the NFL this season in passing yards (1,248) and has thrown eight touchdown passes and four interceptions for an overall 105.3 quarterback rating.
After the Browns had tied the game, 27-27, in the dying moments of the game, Rivers directed the Chargers’ game-winning drive as rookie Josh Rambo kicked his third field goal of the game — a 34-yarder as time expired — to give the hosts a final three-point edge.
Keenan Allen (four catches, 72 yards), Ladarius Green (four catches, 53 yards) and John Phillips (one catch, one yard) each caught touchdown passes. Danny Woodhead had eight carries for 54 yards and four catches totaling 84 yards, including one 61-yard jaunt from the line of scrimmage.
Manti Te’o led the Chargers defense with 13 tackles while Jeremiah Attaochu had two sacks and Melvin Ingram was credited with 1.5 sacks and Eric Weddle had one-half sack.
Cleveland (1-3) had tied the game on a two-point conversion after creeping to within 27-25 on the scoreboard on a late touchdown. Josh McCown completed two touchdown passes but was sacked four times by the Chargers. He finished the game with a 119.1 quarterback rating.
Duke Johnson Jr. was the workhorse for the Browns with eight carries for 31 yards and nine receptions for 85 yards and one touchdown. Gary Barridge (six catches, 75 yards) had the Browns’ other TD catch.
Travis Coons was four-for-four on field goals for the visitors. Neither team scored a rushing touchdown in the game.
Xavier Cooper and Christian Kirksey each recorded sacks for Cleveland.
The game was tied 13-13 at halftime, with the hosts going up 20-16 at the end of three quarters before the teams combined for 21 points in the final quarter.
Highly touted Browns draft pick Johnny Manziel did not play in the game. He’s appeared in two games so far this season with 354 passing yards, three touchdowns, one interception and a 99.7 QB rating. The Texas A&M grad and Heismann Trophy winner as a freshman has already surpassed total yardage (175) and touchdowns passes (zero) he compiled his rookie season in 2014.
McCown, another native Texan, has appeared in three games this season with 748 passing yards, four touchdowns, one interception and a 98.4 quarterback rating.
The Chargers (2-3) host the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2) on Monday night while Cleveland visits the Baltimore Ravens (1-3) in a key AFC North Division contest, also on Sunday, Oct. 11.
NFL Leaderboard
AFC Top Records
New England Patriots (3-0)
Cincinnati Bengals (4-0)
Denver Broncos (4-0)
New York Jets (3-1)
Indianapolis Colts (3-2)
Buffalo Bills (2-2)
Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2)
Oakland Raiders (2-2)
San Diego Chargers (2-2)
NFC Top Records
Green Bay Packers (4-0)
Carolina Panthers (4-0)
Atlanta Falcons (4-0)
Arizona Cardinals (3-1)
Minnesota Vikings (2-2)
Dallas Cowboys (2-2)
New York Giants (2-2)
Washington Redskins (2-2)
St. Louis Rams (2-2)
Seattle Seahawks (2-2)
NFL SCOREBOARD
Thursday, Oct. 8
Indianapolis Colts 27, Houston Texans 20
Sunday, Oct. 10
Arizona Cardinals 42, Detroit Lions 17
Buffalo Bills 14, Tennessee Titans 13
Chicago Bears 18, Kansas City Chiefs 17
Green Bay Packers 24, St. Louis Rams 10
Philadelphia Eagles 39, New Orleans Saints 17
Denver Broncos 16, Oakland Raiders 10
Cleveland Browns 33, Baltimore Ravens 30 (OT)
Cincinnati Bengals 27, Seattle Seahawks 24 (OT)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38, Jacksonville Jaguars 31
Atlanta Falcons 25, Washington Redskins 19 (OT)
New England Patriots 30, Dallas Cowboys 6
New York Giants 30, San Francisco 49ers 27
Monday, Oct. 11
Pittsburgh Steelers at San Diego Chargers
