Not even five turnovers can stop the red-hot Chicago Bears. The rising Super Bowl contenders picked up their fourth consecutive win with a victory on "Sunday Night Football," and did so even with their offense repeatedly failing them. They downed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 27-24, with a walk-off field goal to negate all the miscues that nearly cost them the game.
Caleb Williams was uncharacteristically sloppy in the Week 9 contest and set a new career high (across both the NFL and college) with four interceptions — each seemingly more inexplicable than the last. Fortunately for the star quarterback, the Buccaneers struggled to capitalize on his mistakes (more on that below) and never took the lead after falling down 14-0 on Chicago's electric first two possessions of the game, each of which ended with Williams touchdown passes.
Chicago held a multi-score lead for much of the game, but the Bucs inched back into one-score territory thanks to their defense holding serve for the majority of the second half. That defense stepped up big again late in the fourth quarter, with Rueben Bain Jr. and Keionte Scott combining to force a fumble by Luther Burden III and setting up Bucky Irving's second touchdown run of the night.
The touchdown Tampa Bay of the Burden fumble was the most costly turn of events for the Bears because it knotted the score at 24, but they had plenty of time to advance into field goal range for Cairo Santos, who booted the game-winner through the uprights. A blown coverage on a corner route to Colston Loveland, who had been quiet for most of the evening, got the Bears into range for Santos' walk-off kick.
This was the first time since 2006 that the Bears won a game with a turnover margin of minus-3 or worse. The interceptions and fumbles should perhaps not have come as a complete surprise, considering the Buccaneers notched at least four takeaways in each of their previous two games, but what was a shock was that they did not prevent Chicago from closing out a victory.
The Bears are now the first seven-win team in the uber-competitive NFC North, while the Buccaneers remain deadlocked with all of the other three-win teams in the downtrodden NFC South.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the Bears' win. Below are our takeaways, highlights and in-game analysis.
The Buccaneers really could and possibly should have won this game, but they missed far too many chances to put points on the board.
The Bucs forced FIVE Chicago turnovers, but turned those takeaways into only 10 total points. Following the Bears' five turnovers, Tampa's drives went, in order: turnover on downs, punt, field goal, interception, touchdown. But after that final score, they gave up the game-winning drive on the ensuing possession.
The Bucs went 2 of 12 on third down. They went 2 of 5 in the red zone, settling for short field goals multiple times, including on fourth-and-2 from the 12-yard line when down 14-0 and first-and-goal from the 3-yard line when trailing 17-3 with just seconds to go before halftime. The Bucs also saw Tez Johnson drop two passes that would have been third-down conversions, cutting those drives short.
They had chances to win the game. They just didn't take advantage of them.
Caleb Williams started off this game as hot as anyone could possibly imagine. He led the Bears on two quick scoring drives to open the game and it looked like he was going to carve up Todd Bowles' defense all night long. On Chicago's third drive of the night, though, everything changed. Williams tried to fit a pass in between two defenders near the goal line and was picked off by Tykee Smith.
That kind of thing happens. Quarterbacks try to make throws into tight windows and defensive backs make plays on the ball. You go back to the drawing board and try to get 'em the next time. But Caleb's next couple of interceptions were not anything like that one. They were utterly dumbfounding.
Just look at this pair of throws.
The plays actually look eerily similar. Williams gets pressure into his lap, fades and throws off his back foot, and simply does not throw the ball far enough out of the way and instead gets picked off by Zyon McCollum. Those throws didn't cost the Bears too much, as the Bucs only got three points out of them, but they certainly contributed to Chicago's mid-game offensive malaise.
Williams' fourth interception was a bit of an unlucky one, as his throw to Luther Burden III got tipped into the air by Jacob Parrish and then picked off by Alex Anzalone.
It was a heck of a wild night for Williams. He went from tearing the defense apart with relative ease to quadrupling the number of interceptions he had all season, in this game alone. Williams had just 14 career interceptions on 1,288 pass attempts coming into this game, giving him the lowest interception rate of all time for a player with 1,000 or more pass attempts. And then he was picked off four times. And his team still won! Incredible.
Bucky Irving is on a major roll for the Buccaneers. He got off to a slow start in this one, but he finished strong and ended the night with 97 yards and two touchdowns on his 20 carries. He was breaking tackles all throughout the second half, and he helped power Tampa back into the game and ultimately helped the Bucs tie it up with just over two minutes to go.
Irving has now run for 584 yards and six touchdowns over Tampa's last five games, averaging 5.3 yards per carry during that stretch. He is the engine that makes this Buccaneers offense go at the moment.
While Irving had a big night, the rest of Tampa's offense mostly did not. The Chicago defense held the Buccaneers to 6.3 yards per pass play, sacked Baker Mayfield four times and picked off two passes of their own, including one that Jaylon Johnson took the other way for a touchdown. As the Bears try to make their way through the rest of the season and the playoffs, the fact that they now have a defense that can step up when the offense isn't playing its best is going to be a huge factor.
Chicago got the ball in the two-minute drill and worked its way down the field relatively quickly. The Bears converted a third-and-4 with a pass to Kalif Raymond, then got down the field with a 38-yard pass to Colston Loveland on a busted coverage. Cairo Santos walked it off with a 38-yard kick.
The Bucs ran two plays after the Burden fumble: a Bucky Irving run up the middle, and a Bucky Irving run up the middle. The second one ended in a score. Tampa went for two and Baker Mayfield converted with a scramble up the middle to tie the game.
After back-to-back run stops, the Bears went with a quick screen to Burden on third-and-long. He got popped by Rueben Bain and Keionte Scott and the ball was knocked out and then recovered by Ifeatu Melifonwu. Burden is down on the field after the play. Looked like he took a hit to the helmet from Bain.
The Chicago defense stood tall on a couple of Tampa drives and the offense now has a chance to run the clock out with a four-minute drive. This is where you'd typically see Ben Johnson lean on the run game, but the Bears have only run for 52 yards on 14 running-back carries so far tonight. Let's see what they do coming up next.
The Bucs got into scoring range thanks to a huge run from Bucky Irving, but they stalled out in the red zone. They sent the offense out there on fourth-and-4 at first, but it was just in an attempt to get the Bears to jump offside. Chase McLaughlin knocked the kick through the uprights to make it a one-score game again.
The Bears DB is headed to the locker room without his helmet.
Two plays after the latest Caleb Williams interception, Baker Mayfield gets picked off by Jaylon Johnson, who takes it all the way back for a touchdown. This is WILD stuff. Looked like Mayfield somehow didn't see Johnson sitting just inside the route.
This one wasn't a bad decision or even that bad of a throw by Caleb, but just a great play by Jacob Parrish and then by Alex Anzalone to pick it off when the ball got popped up into the air. What a wild turn of events from how this game looked in the first quarter.
Tampa's defense and special teams are changing this game. Miles Killebrew just tipped a punt and gave the Bucs great field position as they try to drive and take their first lead of the night.
The Bucs DB is out for the remainder of the game with an ankle injury.
Here's the deep ball from Mayfield to Tez Johnson that got the Bucs down to the goal line.
After the deep ball to Johnson got the Bucs down to the goal line, the Bucs went with back-to-back runs for Bucky, and he punched the second one into the end zone from a yard out to make it a one-score game. It's his sixth rushing touchdown of the season.
Tyrique Stevenson left at the end of the first half with some sort of injury, and now Kyler Gordon is down on the field after getting beaten on a deep ball by Tez Johnson to open the second half. Less than ideal situation for Chicago.
Tampa put together a nice-looking last-second drive but gone down to the 3-yard line with only three seconds left in the half. Rather than going for it, Todd Bowles sent out the field goal team down in the low red zone for the second time. It's an 11-point game at the half.
Once again, on the first play after a Bucs turnover, Caleb Williams puts the ball up for grabs while fading away and gets picked off by Zyon McCollum. Second time he's done this now. It's Caleb's third interception of the game, a new career high.
The Bucs were driving and in position to cut into the lead, but Cam Lewis jumped the underneath pass intended for Tez Johnson and picked it off. He was all over the route the entire time.
Tampa had to punt following the last Williams interception after a Tez Johnson drop. The Bears worked the ball deep into Buccaneers territory but stalled out in the red zone thanks to a nice tackle and then pressure from Bucs first-rounder Rueben Bain Jr. Chicago settled for a short Cairo Santos field goal to extend the lead.
On the first play after the turnover on downs, Williams threw the ball up for grabs under pressure and got intercepted by Zyon McCollum. This game is making me dizzy.
After the interception, the Bucs got into fourth-and-1 near the 35-yard line and tried to run a QB sneak, but Baker Mayfield got absolutely popped by Devin Bush and came up short. Chicago takes over with great field position.
What a turn of events for the Bucs, who were on the verge of going down by three scores. Instead, Tykee Smith comes up with a massive interception down by the goal line and gives Tampa new life. Huge play.
Tampa got all the way down to the goal line after converting a fourth-and-2 earlier in the drive, but stalled out thanks to a couple of nice plays from Bears linebackers on a play-action pass to Cade Otton and then a run by Kenny Gainwell. Chase McLaughlin connected on a short kick to cut into the lead early in the second quarter.
Oh boy. The Bears are on a roll. Back-to-back touchdown drives to open the game and go up by two scores early. This touchdown comes on a ridiculous catch and run from Burden, who broke a couple tackles and just took off down the field for a 56-yard score.
Chicago put together a nearly flawless opening drive, marching 53 yards on 10 plays and getting into the end zone with this scramble drill throw from Caleb Williams to Odunze for the latter's first touchdown grab of the year. (Odunze had previously bobbled what should have been a TD on first down. He made up for it here.) Bears grab an early lead and put the Bucs in a trailing game script they haven't seen over the last couple of weeks.
Caleb Williams has been excellent since his return from a hamstring injury. He's completed 73.8% of his passes at an average of 8.3 yards per attempt, with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He hasn't scrambled as much or as well as he did early in the season (11 carries for 22 yards), but the passing has been great.
Tampa has run the ball like crazy over the last two weeks, rushing for 258 yards against the Panthers in Week 7 and 322 against the Falcons in Week 8. Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell have combined to carry the entire offense while Baker Mayfield has barely had to throw any passes - and didn't complete a single pass last week in the win over Atlanta.
