Lions Beat Bears 37-34 in Overtime

Bears enter bye week on losing note


In a game both thrilling and frustrating the Bears and Lions traded the lead five times, needed overtime to decide the outcome and left fans of each team scratching their heads. The previously winless Lions looked more capable than their record indicated, while the Bears offense seesawed between potent and ineffective. 

What looked like a Jonathan Anderson interception in the endzone was overturned and ruled a Golden Tate touchdown catch, giving the Lions a 21-13 halftime lead. The controversial play quickly became the talk of the day across the NFL media landscape.

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“It’s tough. We battled, I can only speak for the offense and myself, we’ve got to do better in the red zone, we’ve got to do better down there.”

–Jay Cutler


The Bears regained the lead midway through the fourth quarter on a Matt Forte two-yard touchdown run. But the Lions countered with a field goal and a Calvin Johnson touchdown catch. Bears kicker Robbie Gould tied it up again with a 29-yard field goal to send the game into overtime. The teams traded multiple possessions for 12-and-a-half minutes until a Lions 27-yard field goal sealed the Lions first win of the season 37-34. 


Join us every Monday on "Chicago Tonight," as former Bear James "Big Cat" Williams joins Ann Kreiter to give us his take on the game.


Notable quotes

Head Coach John Fox

On what the difference in the game was“I think we played a good team on the road and we had to overcome a lot of different things and we just came up a little short.”

Quarterback Jay Cutler

On how hard of a loss this is to take for a team: “It’s tough, it’s tough. We battled, I can only speak for the offense and myself, we’ve got to do better in the red zone, we’ve got to do better down there. We’ve got to be more efficient, got to get touchdowns instead of three. I’ve got to play better down there. I thought the defense did a good job of keeping us in the game early.”

Running Back Matt Forte

On if Lions game is a missed opportunity: “Yeah, a bunch of missed opportunities. The game was basically given to us and we had a lot of opportunities to win that game. I don’t even want to go over the first half, then the second half, even in overtime, we couldn’t get a first down. When we got an opportunity to go down, the defense stopped them and the first team to score wins, we’ve got to move the ball. We’ve got to at least get the ball past the 50.”

Notable stats:

• Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery started against the Lions after missing four games due to a hamstring injury. Jeffery caught 8 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown.

• Jay Cutler completed 26 of 41 passes for 353 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

• The Lions entered Sunday’s game averaging just 49 yards rushing per game. Against the Bears, they rushed for 155 yards. 

Controversial Tate touchdown catch:

The NFL has passed along a tweet from Dean Blandino with a video explanation of the Golden Tate touchdown.

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