Bears Survive 4 Caleb Williams INTs, Beat Bucs 27-24 on Santos Kick

Cairo Santos made sure five turnovers didn’t cost the Chicago Bears a game they should have put away in the first quarter.

In Bears vs Buccaneers on Sunday night, Santos drilled a 38-yard field goal as time expired, and Chicago beat Tampa Bay 27-24 at Soldier Field. Caleb Williams threw two early touchdown passes, then threw four interceptions, the first time in his career he has thrown more than two in a regular-season game. He still delivered the throw that mattered most: a 38-yard strike to tight end Colston Loveland that set up the winning kick.

Chicago improves to 7-2 and heads into its bye week. Tampa Bay falls to 3-6.

A fast start, then a long stall

For two drives, this looked like the Bears team that had owned the past month.

Williams was sharp from the opening snap. He finished the first drive with a touchdown pass to Rome Odunze, and on the next one he hit second-year receiver Luther Burden III on a short crossing route. Burden broke three tackles and turned it into a 56-yard touchdown. It was 14-0, and Soldier Field was loud.

Then the game turned into something else entirely.

On Chicago’s third drive, the Bears had the ball inside the Tampa Bay 10 when rookie receiver Zavion Thomas was flagged for unnecessary roughness. On the next play, Williams threw his first interception. After the Bucs went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 35 and Baker Mayfield was stuffed on a quarterback sneak by linebacker Devin Bush, Williams gave the ball right back with a throw off his back foot while taking a hit. That was two interceptions on two passes.

He threw a third right before halftime, one play after defensive back Cam Lewis picked off Mayfield at the Chicago 26 with 43 seconds left. Tampa Bay turned that one into a field goal.

Even with all of that, the Bears led 17-6 at the break. Santos added a 25-yarder in the second quarter, and Chase McLaughlin answered with two short field goals for the Bucs.

The interception-fest keeps going

Tampa Bay came out of halftime and scored on its first possession. Bucky Irving punched in a 2-yard touchdown run, and it was 17-13 with 11:37 left in the third quarter.

Williams’ fourth interception came later in the third, and this one wasn’t really on him. His pass toward Burden was deflected straight up and into the arms of linebacker Alex Anzalone.

Two plays later, the Bears got it back with interest. Mayfield appeared not to see cornerback Jaylon Johnson sitting inside the route, and Johnson returned the interception 67 yards for a touchdown. Chicago led 24-13 going into the fourth quarter, and the two quarterbacks had combined for six interceptions.

Tampa Bay claws all the way back

The Bucs’ defense deserves real credit for keeping its team alive. Starting late in the second quarter, Tampa Bay stopped Chicago on seven straight possessions, and Mayfield found enough big plays to make it a game. A 44-yard completion to Kenny Gainwell set up McLaughlin’s 35-yard field goal that cut the lead to 24-16 with 11:24 to play.

Then came the play that nearly flipped the night. With 3:38 left, Burden caught a pass on third down and had the ball punched out by Rueben Bain and Keionte Scott. Tampa Bay recovered at the Chicago 17. Burden also took a blow to the head in the fourth quarter and was helped off by trainers.

The Bucs needed only two runs from Irving to reach the end zone. Mayfield then scrambled up the middle for the 2-point conversion, and it was 24-24 with 2:51 left.

Williams gets one more chance

For a quarterback who had spent most of the night handing the ball to the other team, Williams didn’t play scared on the final drive.

He started with a 6-yard completion to Loveland and an 8-yarder to Kalif Raymond. Then, with less than a minute left, Tampa Bay lost Loveland in coverage. Williams found him for 38 yards, and Loveland was pushed out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 16 with 40 seconds to go.

Head coach Ben Johnson didn’t get cute from there. Williams took two knees to drain the clock, and Santos walked out and hit the 38-yarder at the gun, his second field goal of the night. The crowd of 60,470 got the ending it wanted, even if it took a strange road to get there.

What it says about the Bears

Nobody in Chicago will pretend this was a clean win. The Bears turned it over five times, lost the turnover battle 5-2, and didn’t score an offensive touchdown after the first quarter.

But the result matters, and so does the context. Chicago was coming off a short week after an emotional Monday night road win over the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, and it played through a long injury list. The defense covered for the offense all night, and Johnson’s pick-six ended up being the difference.

The bigger question is Williams. Over the three games before this one, against Atlanta, New England and Seattle, he had thrown for 860 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions while completing 73.8% of his passes. Sunday was a sharp step backward in the middle of that run. The good news for the Bears is that he answered it with the biggest throw of the game, and that he now has an extra week to reset.

In the NFC North, Chicago sits at 7-2. Green Bay improved to 6-3 with its rout of New England, and Minnesota (6-1) hosts Buffalo on Monday night, so the division standings will shift again before Chicago plays.

What went wrong for Tampa Bay

The Bucs will look back at this one with real regret.

They forced five turnovers on the road against one of the NFC’s best teams and still lost. Head coach Todd Bowles settled for three short field goals, including the 35-yarder in the fourth quarter, and the failed fourth-down sneak in the first half wasted a possession in a game that was decided by three points.

Mayfield had a rough night. He threw no touchdown passes, was intercepted twice, and was sacked four times as the offensive line struggled to protect him. His 58-yard completion to Tez Johnson, which set up an Irving touchdown, was one of the few times the passing game looked fully in sync.

Irving was the bright spot again. His 97 rushing yards and two scores gave him six rushing touchdowns this season, and he added four catches for 28 yards. Tampa Bay’s ground game was good enough to win, and its defense took the ball away enough to win. The offense just didn’t finish.

At 3-6, the Bucs are running out of room in the NFC playoff race.

Fantasy takeaways

• Bucky Irving: 20 carries, 97 yards, two touchdowns, plus four catches. He’s earned weekly RB1 treatment when Tampa Bay returns.
• Luther Burden III: Seven catches for 97 yards and a touchdown led all receivers. Watch his status after the head injury.
• Caleb Williams: Two touchdowns can’t hide four interceptions. The bye week comes at a good time for fantasy managers too.
• Colston Loveland: Quiet for most of the night, but the 38-yard catch on the final drive was the biggest play of the game.

What’s next after Bears vs Buccaneers

Both teams get a breather. Chicago is on bye in Week 10, and Tampa Bay is also off before facing the Detroit Lions in Week 11.

For the Bears, the week off is a chance to get healthy and figure out what went wrong after that 14-0 start. For the Bucs, it is a chance to figure out how a team that forced five turnovers walked out of Soldier Field without a win.