Cutler Leads Struggling Bears Over Vikings, 21-13
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bears put their implosion on hold for a day.
Jay Cutler threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns, and the Bears won for just the second time in seven games by beating the Minnesota Vikings 21-13 on Sunday.
Ryan Mundy intercepted Teddy Bridgewater's 29-yard pass in the end zone in the closing minute, and the Bears hung on for the win after suffering two of the worst blowout losses in franchise history.
Alshon Jeffery had 135 yards receiving and a touchdown catch. Brandon Marshall added 90 yards and two TD receptions, including a 4-yarder in the fourth quarter that made it an 11-point game. Matt Forte ran for 117 yards.
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Jared Allen had a sack against his former team, and the Bears (4-6) prevailed after joining the 1923 Rochester Jeffersons as the only teams to give up 50 or more points in consecutive games with blowouts at New England and Green Bay. But it was a different story against the Vikings (4-6).
The Bears held Minnesota to 243 yards while racking up 468, and they picked up their first win at Soldier Field after dropping their first three there.
Minnesota got a 48-yard end-around by Andrew Sendejo on a fake punt to set up an early touchdown but little else on the way to its seventh straight loss in Chicago.
Bridgewater threw for just 158 yards and touchdown, and the Vikings came up short after winning two in a row.
Marshall made it an 11-point game when he posted Josh Robinson in the end zone like a basketball player and leaped to snag a 4-yard pass to make it 21-10. That capped a drive in which the Bears converted twice on a fourth-and-1 on runs by Forte— at the Minnesota 27 and at the 6.
The Vikings then drove to the Chicago 8 before settling for a 26-yard field goal by Blair Walsh with just over four minutes left.
They were threatening to tie it again, but Mundy's interception in the right side of the end zone on a pass intended for Charles Johnson sealed it for Chicago.
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Outscored a combined 94-7 in the first two quarters of the previous two games, the Bears overcame an early 10-0 deficit to take a 14-10 halftime lead.
Fans were letting them hear it after Bridgewater connected with Rhett Ellison for a 7-yard touchdown following Sendejo's end-around with the Vikings lined up to punt late in the first quarter.
But the Bears gave them something to cheer less than two minutes into the second. Jeffery caught a 27-yard touchdown from Cutler to make it a three-point game.
The Bears took their first lead since their win at Atlanta on Oct. 12 with just under three minutes left in the half when Marshall hauled in Cutler's 44-yard heave. Cutler got hit by Anthony Barr as he released the ball, and Marshall outjumped Josh Robinson in the end zone, putting Chicago up 14-10.
The Bears had a big opportunity to add to their lead on the first drive of the third quarter, only to come away empty-handed.
A leaping Jeffery caught a 34-yard pass to put the ball on the 8. But on fourth down at the 1, Cutler rolled to his left and got stopped short of the end zone.
The Bears were driving again late in the third when Cutler got intercepted by Harrison Smith, who returned it 52 yards to the Chicago 27. But they caught a break when Walsh missed a 38-yard field goal that would have made it a one-point game.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.