The Bears led Thursday night from the first possession to the last snap, and somehow it still came down to an onside kick. That’s the Chicago experience. Nothing is ever easy, and the kicker is always involved.
Chicago beat New England 30-24 at Soldier Field to move to 5-2. The Patriots came in riding a three-game winning streak and leave at 4-3, with Drake Maye’s big night wasted.
Burden owned the first half
Caleb Williams, back from a hamstring injury that cost him three games, went 22-of-33 for 308 yards and two touchdowns with a 116.7 passer rating. That’s two straight weeks over 300, after he put up 305 in Atlanta last week. Bears fans are allowed to get a little excited. A little.
His favorite target early was Luther Burden III, who caught four passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, all of it in the first half. A 58-yard strike from Williams set up D’Andre Swift’s 4-yard touchdown run for a 10-0 lead. Later, with 14 seconds left in the half, Burden took a screen 24 yards to the house to make it 20-7.
Williams, who apparently believes in giving credit where it’s due, summed up his role on that one: “I didn’t do anything.”
Ben Johnson was a bit kinder to his own receiver. “He did a great job catching it and finding some green grass,” Johnson said.
Then the Bears got cute with the clock. Drake Maye hit Rhamondre Stevenson on the final play of the half, and Stevenson went 48 yards for a touchdown to make it 20-14. Johnson didn’t sugarcoat the tackling. “I think we could have rallied to the ball there and gotten him down,” he said.
Maye was sharp all night: 24-of-31 for 321 yards, two passing touchdowns, one interception and a 7-yard rushing score. Stevenson finished with five catches for 93 yards. The one Maye mistake was a big one, though. D’Marco Jackson picked him off in the end zone in the second quarter.
Santos, upright, redemption
Colston Loveland caught a 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter for a 27-14 lead (he finished with a season-high seven catches for 69 yards). Maye answered with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Eli Raridon to make it 27-21, and the fourth quarter got tense.
Cairo Santos had a chance to make it a two-score game from 53 yards with 7:57 left. He hit the right upright. “That’s as close of a miss that you can have; it hit the inside of the upright,” Santos said.
Kyler Gordon bailed everybody out with a sack of Maye on fourth-and-5 at the Chicago 45. Then, on the next trip, Williams took a 10-yard sack on third-and-5 at the New England 30, which is the kind of decision that makes offensive coordinators stare silently into the middle distance. That pushed the kick out to 58 yards.
Johnson asked Santos if he wanted it. “I want it,” Santos said. He made it, a career long, for a 30-21 lead with 1:34 left.
“Thankful that Ben trusts me on that and I delivered a great kick right down the middle,” Santos said.
Andy Borregales hit a 47-yarder for New England with 37 seconds left, Rome Odunze recovered the onside kick, and that was that. Odunze also had four catches for 69 yards, including three 21-yard grabs on two big fourth-quarter drives. Swift added 78 yards on 22 carries.
The bad news for Chicago: tight end Cole Kmet left with a knee injury in the fourth quarter. “We’ll know more tomorrow,” Johnson said, “but I don’t think it looked very good.” Rookie corner Malik Muhammad also left with a toe injury.
The Bears have won four of five. “These nights are awesome,” Williams said. Chicago fans would like a few more of them with fewer onside kicks, please.
Full details per the Bears’ official recap and Pro Football Talk.