Sunday's roundup: Bears win first on late field goal
Chicago — As soon as Jay Cutler threw an interception, it looked like the Bears were about to follow the familiar script.
Then he and Robbie Gould rewrote the ending to give Chicago its first win under John Fox.
Cutler threw for two touchdowns and redeemed himself following that interception by helping set up a 49-yard field goal by Gould in the closing seconds Sunday, leading the Bears to a 22-20 victory over the Raiders.
“It’s a big win,” Cutler said. “Guys are excited. Coaching staff’s excited. We’ve got a good group in there.”
The Raiders (2-2) grabbed the lead on a field goal by Sebastian Janikowski with just over two minutes remaining set up by an interception by Charles Woodson. The former Michigan standout picked off a pass thrown behind Martellus Bennett deep in Oakland territory.
But Cutler led Chicago (1-3) from its 20 to the Oakland 32 before Gould nailed the winner in the closing seconds.
“I was really happy to see smiles in there,” Fox said. “I’m really happy for our fans because we haven’t exactly lit it up here at home in the first two opportunities.”
The Bears shook off two embarrassing losses, including their first shutout since 2002 last week at Seattle, to give Fox his first victory since he was hired in the offseason. The win came at the expense of Oakland coach Jack Del Rio, his defensive coordinator in Carolina and Denver. And it capped a busy week that saw Chicago trade Jared Allen to Carolina.
Derek Carr threw for 196 yards as Oakland lost after winning two in a row.
“This was just one of those old-fashion NFL fights,” Carr said. “Down to the wire. There was no lack of focus, or lack of effort. Nothing that would alarm you.”
(At) New Orleans 26, Dallas 20, OT: Drew Brees hit C.J. Spiller with a short pass that the running back turned into an 80-yard touchdown — the 400th of the Saints quarterback’s career — on the second play of overtime, and New Orleans won for the first time this season.
Brees, who missed New Orleans’ previous game because of a bruised rotator cuff in his right (throwing) shoulder, completed 32 of 39 throws for 279 yards in his return. Mark Ingram gained 126 yards from scrimmage, and Khiry Robinson had a 1-yard touchdown run for New Orleans (1-3).
Joseph Randle scored the lone TD for Dallas (2-2) on a 1-yard run in the first half. The winning score enlivened a Superdome crowd stunned by Saints kicker Zach Hocker’s 30-yard miss in the final seconds of regulation.
Green Bay 17, (at) San Francisco 3: Aaron Rodgers passed for 224 yards and a touchdown, ran 17 yards to set up a key second-half score, and the Packers are off to their first 4-0 start in four years.
Richard Rodgers caught a 9-yard touchdown pass on the game’s opening drive as the Packers ended a four-game losing streak to San Francisco.
(At) Cincinnati 36, Kansas City 21: Andy Dalton threw a 55-yard touchdown pass on the run to Brandon Tate and the Bengals (4-0) matched the third-best start in franchise history, two wins shy of the club record.
“We started the season with a special intent, and that’s to be great,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “We’re not satisfied with being good anymore.”
(At) Atlanta 48, Houston 21: Devonta Freeman scored three more touchdowns and the Falcons (4-0) remained unbeaten.
Freeman, who took over as the starting running back after rookie Tevin Coleman sustained a rib injury in Week 2, has scored six TDs in the last two games.Freeman had touchdown runs of 16, 23 and 6 yards.
Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett was yanked in favor of Brian Hoyer after the Falcons built a 42-0 lead.
“That’s coach’s job to make that decision,” Hoyer (Michigan State) said about who will start atr quarterback. “We’ll be ready to go either way.”
(At) Washington 23, Philadelphia 20: Kirk Cousins threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon with 26 seconds left for Washington, (2-2) which drove 90 yards on 15 plays.
“That final drive — I wasn’t capable of doing that when I came in the league as a rookie. It takes time. It takes failure. It takes learning from experiences,” Cousins said.
“A culmination of, I guess it would be, three-plus seasons’ worth of work got me to a point where I was able to make the necessary plays on that drive.”
Cousins had no turnovers. He did fumble a snap in the first half at Philadelphia’s 1, but recovered it himself and plunged forward for a touchdown.
Sam Bradford threw three second-half touchdown passes for the Eagles (1-3), but their new kicker, Caleb Sturgis, missed an extra-point attempt and a 33-yard field-goal try.
N.Y. Giants 24, (at) Buffalo 10: Rashad Jennings broke three tackles to score on a 51-yard touchdown catch midway through the fourth quarter for the Giants.
Eli Manning went 20-of-35 for 212 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Giants (2-2) to their second straight win.
The Giants limited Buffalo to a combined 77 yards and two first downs on its first nine possessions.
Carolina 37, (at) Tampa Bay 23: Cam Newton threw for two touchdowns and Josh Norman returned one of Carolina’s four interceptions of Jameis Winston for his second TD of the season as the Panthers remained unbeaten.
Newton tossed scoring passes of 6 and 12 yards to Ted Ginn Jr.
Tight end Ed Dickson rumbled 57 yards after recovering a fumble to score in the third quarter. Jonathan Stewart rushed for 8 yards before fumbling on the play, in which Dickson grabbed the ball in midair and took off for the end zone.
“In my 10-plus years playing football, I don’t think I scored a weirder touchdown,” Dickson said.
Rookie Kyle Brindza (Plymouth) had another tough day kicking for Tampa Bay. He missed two field goals and an extra point.
N.Y. Jets 27, Miami 14: At London, Chris Ivory ran for a career-high 166 yards and a touchdown, and Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 218 and another score to lead the Jets.
“When the back is going good, you keep feeding him,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said.
Ivory ran in from 3 yards on New York’s first possession in the 12th regular-season game played in London, but the first to feature division rivals.
(At) San Diego 30, Cleveland 27: Given a second chance because of a penalty, rookie Josh Lambo kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired, lifting the Chargers.
Lambo was wide right on a 39-yard attempt with two seconds left, but Cleveland’s Tramon Williams was whistled for offside. Lambo then hit his third field goal of the game.
The Browns (1-3) had tied it at 27 on Josh McCown’s 1-yard pass to Gary Barnidge with 2:09 to play and a 2-point conversion pass to Taylor Gabriel.
(At) Indianapolis 16, Jacksonville 13 (OT): Adam Vinatieri kicked a 27-yard field goal with 4:36 left in overtime to give the Colts an NFL record-tying 15th consecutive win over a division opponent. The 1972-73 Dolphins also won 15 straight.
Matt Hasselbeck made his first start since November 2012 in place of the injured Andrew Luck (shoulder).