CHICAGO — Caleb Williams threw four interceptions Sunday night at Soldier Field, and still the Chicago Bears found a way to win.
The Bears turned the ball over five times, the final one a Luther Burden III fumble late in the fourth quarter that gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a short field. They turned it into a touchdown and converted a 2-point try to tie the game.
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Williams and the offense took over with just under three minutes remaining, and he hit tight end Colston Loveland for a 38-yard gain to bring the Bears into field-goal range. Kicker Cairo Santos made a 38-yard field goal as time expired for a 27-24 victory.
The Bears, who improved to 7-2 heading into their bye week, hadn’t won a game in which their quarterback threw four picks since they beat the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 10, 2010, despite Todd Collins’ four interceptions.
According to Stathead, before Sunday the Bears were 5-43-1 in regular-season games when their quarterback threw four or more interceptions.
The Bears built a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter after Williams connected with Rome Odunze and Burden for touchdowns.
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Odunze scored on the opening drive. On the next possession, Burden caught a short pass from Williams over the middle and sprinted away from everyone for a 56-yard touchdown. It looked like the Bears might roll to a victory.
But things weren’t so easy.
In the second quarter, Williams threw interceptions on back-to-back passes. The first came when he targeted Odunze near the goal line. The Bears were trying to go up by three scores. Instead, Bucs safety Tykee Smith grabbed the interception.
A few minutes later, the Bears defense came up with a big fourth-down stuff to give the offense the ball at the Bucs 35-yard line. But Williams, trying to brush off the first interception, threw his second pick on the next play.
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Williams never had thrown four interceptions in a game as a pro or in three seasons of college football. He hadn’t thrown two interceptions in an NFL game since Week 3 of his rookie season in 2024. The last time he threw three was for USC in a loss at Notre Dame in 2023.
He came into Sunday with just one interception this season. In his first three games since returning from a hamstring injury, Williams had completed 73.8% of his passes.
He finished 22 of 37 (59.5%) for 279 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions. Yet the Bears are 4-0 since Williams returned from his injury.
On a night when Williams and the offense struggled with turnovers, it was the Bears defense that came up with clutch points in the second half. In the third quarter, cornerback Jaylon Johnson picked off Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield and returned the interception 67 yards for a touchdown.
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Mayfield and the Bucs offense couldn’t get anything going against the Bears defense. Tampa Bay went 2 for 12 on third-down attempts. Safety Cam Lewis also grabbed an interception in the second quarter.
But the Bucs capitalized on Burden’s late fumble, which gave them the ball at the Bears 17-yard line. Running back Bucky Irving scored on a 6-yard run, and Mayfield ran in the 2-point try to tie the score at 24.
That set up the drive for Santos’ winning field goal.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
